Dusing_lara2016 by Renee Burke

Portfolio 2016

Lara

dusing s g

Lara

Dusing lrdusing@gmail.com Media: @laradusing 321-297-6093

Renee Burke Journalism Adviser William R. Boone High School 1000 E. Kaley Street Orlando, FL 32806 Dear Mrs. Renee Burke, With this school year coming to an end, the 2016-2017 Legend yearbook staff seems to be in need of a new junior Editor-in-Chief. As an aspiring journalist and writer, there is no better role that encompasses all of the major aspects of journalism than the position I am seeking for which is junior Editor-in-Chief. Attached is my resume and some of my best work from this past year as a staffer on the Legend yearbook for you to review and consider for the role as junior Editor-in-Chief. I have always been passionate about everything I do and this continued when I began taking Journalism 1 my freshman year. Although, I was apart of the 2012-2013 yearbook staff at Cornerstone Charter Academy which is where I was introduced to the process of what goes into making a yearbook, I was never aware of the important aspects taken when designing and writing feature stories. Once introduced to InDesign as well as new writing techniques in Journalism 1 at William R. Boone High School, I felt more comfortable to create my own spread and write stories on my own. With this newfound confidence I have grown and been able to build up my photography, writing and designing skills. The position as junior Editor-in-Chief for the award winning Legend yearbook staff takes a strong leader and passionate staffer who is dedication to the publications. Throughout my first year on staff I have spent many hours after school finishing deadlines and driving to and from sporting events to get â&#x20AC;&#x153;that perfect shot.â&#x20AC;? I learned how to manage my time quickly and only missed one deadline throughout my entire first year. With such a high standard for all the members of the staff, it makes everyone more accountable for one another. Thank you for considering me for the junior Editor-in-Chief position. Although, I would be honored to be able to show my passion for the position and my skills I have acquired through my previous year on staff. I look forward to meeting you in person in the near future. Best Regards, Lara Dusing

Lara

Dusing lrdusing@gmail.com Media: @laradusing 321-297-6093

Objective: • To obtain knowledge on the inner workings of an award winning publication and gain leadership skills needed to administer young scholars while furthering my skills in design and writing.

Education: • • • •

Completed two years at William R. Boone High School GPA weighted: 4.9 GPA unweighted: 4.0 Graduation Date: May 2018

Experience:

• Legend Yearbook, William R. Boone High School • Aug 2015-2016. Took photos, wrote body copy and captions, designed layouts, made media posts, handled teacher and student interviews, and worked in a pressure filled environment with a deadline.

Relevant High School Studies:

• Journalism 1 & 6 Honors, English 1 & 2 Honors, Spanish 1, 2 & 3 Honors

Activities and Awards:

• Softball player 2005-present. I began playing recreational softball at the age of five but my passion then grew after four years so I joined a competitive travel team that I have now completed 16 seasons with. I also have completed two years on the varsity softball team at Cornerstone Charter Academy as well as another two years on the varsity softball team at William R. Boone High School. -Made the Florida High School Athletic Association Division 3A All District team in 2014 • Altar Serving at St. James Cathedral 2009-present. A program offered to the young members of the St. James Ministry that allows kids to help the priest through the service and be apart of the celebration of mass. • Fellowship of Christian Athletes 2016-present. A club where the student community can come together at huddles and members help students learn more about the Christian faith. • Active member of Student Council 2014-present. Attend meetings and vote on actions that should be taken to better the school. • Adobe Photoshop CC certified as of 2016

References: • • • •

Renee Burke: Yearbook Adviser. (rdnburke@gmail.com) Chris Orland: Softball Team Coach: (corland@pastachips.com) Kevin Wilkes: Co-director of the Knights of the Altar: (kwilkes@knightsofthealtars.com) Kelly Wilkes: Co-director of the Knights of the Altar: (kwilkes@knightsofthealtars.com)

Portfolio 2016

Analytical Essay

Lara

Dusing lrdusing@gmail.com Media: @laradusing 321-297-6093

I believe it all started one day when my eldest sister, Mary Catherine, came home from school one day and announced that she was officially a member of the Boone Legend yearbook staff. At first my family and I did not think anything of this and thought it would be just another extracurricular activity for Mary Catherine to add to her resume, but this was far from the truth. The Legend yearbook became a home for her and soon for my other older sister Sarah. Having received death threats from both of my sisters about whether or not I would include Journalism 1 in my schedule for freshman year, the only logical reason, (the reason I am still living), was to take the course. I knew that yearbook consumed most of my sisters free time and caused a tremendous amount of stress on both of them, but what intrigued me the most was how both of them continued to do it. Sure they complained about not making deadlines and getting re-subbed but they also talked about how they looked forward to class everyday and almost cried when distribution day came around. At first I could not understand their somewhat bipolar attitudes towards yearbook, but now having completed a full year on staff I can completely relate to how they must have felt. No deadline was an easy deadline and that meant I had to learn quickly about how to always be on my game at all times. The harsh grading process threw me by surprise when deadline two came along and I had nobody guiding me on what had to be done and by when. Being my first deadline alone, I searched through the dark to find my way. I learned the process of a deadline and the reasoning behind why people had to be graded by their editors and why the grading policy was so strict Most of the deadlines I had I was accompanied by a partner. This may be shocking, but being the overachiever I am, working with others was a task. Relying on someone else and entrusting them with my grade was one of the most challenging things I have faced all year. This allowed to me to learn the true meaning of teamwork and help create new relationships with my fellow staff members. With teamwork and reliability also comes dedication. I now have found a new meaning for the term dedication after having been on staff this year. This past fall I was absent multiple times due to traveling and would therefore always find myself squeezing in time while out of town to finish a cob or edit my body copy. One instance in particular, I remember after a two hour flight from Indianapolis to Orlando, I went straight from the airport to school in order to ensure I would be able to make deadline. I was able completed five out of the six major deadlines. Through each deadline I became more comfortable with the Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign programs, which helped contribute to my success in having good content on each one of my spreads. I feel the staff benefited immensely with my help and dedication for the yearbook publication. Whenever I fell behind on deadline I did everything in my power to get back on track and always looked for ways I could help others as well. As a well-developed staffer, I have grown as a journalist and improved my photography, writing, and designing abilities.

Portfolio 2016

Rereflection #1

Lara

Dusing 1823 Wind Drift Road Belle Isle, FL 32809 lrdusing@gmail.com Media: @laradusing 321-297-6093

RR ee ff l e c t i o n # 1 My most significant piece from this year has to be the profile I completed on sophomore Brittney Smith for deadline four. It shows the improvements I have made in my writing and taught me the most about how to delegate my time. I chose this page because it impacted my writing immensely and made me more confident in myself. Before this deadline, writing had been a pain for me and I never understood what the important aspects of a story were. Since this deadline was entirely body copy, it gave me a lot more time to sit down and really focus in on what I was writing. However, there were mix-ups with what my profile topic was and ultimately I had to change my angle about three times. I was never clear on what my angle was from the beginning so every editor tore apart my writing line by line due to the multiple angles I was using and the choppy paragraph structure. I finally gave in and asked for help from the copy editor and the senior Editor-in-Chief to explain exactly how I can fix my writing. Through their guidance I finally came to an understanding of what good writing consists of and how to make this profile and my future stories flow smoothly. When deadline rolled around, this profile had transformed from a choppy and unclear story to one of my best pieces in the book. I personally like the first paragraph in the story because I made it more dramatic which I think it hooks the reader into wanting to read more about Smith. All in all, I think this piece represents how much my writing has grown and will continue to help me in my future, whether it be for another yearbook story or in one of my English classes.

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Portfolio 2016

Rereflection #2

RR ee ff l e c t i o n # 2 Y16. Sports Action Photo, 034-035 While having to attend many swim meets to take photos for yearbook, I always seemed to come up short in trying to find the perfect picture to be the dominant photo on the boys swim page. Having to shoot for a sport where more than half the time the team is underwater is not an easy task when you are not very gifted with a camera. Anyways, when I came across this photo I shot I became ecstatic. I have never felt so proud about a photo in my life and I feel as though this photo represents how my hard work finally paid off and showed my perseverance through the challenging times.

Y6. Personality Profile, 152-153

I have always seen writing as boring and never thought any of my writing would ever be good enough to stand on its own. So imagine my surprise when I learned I had been assigned a spread focused on writing. I spent many hours writing and rewriting this story to make it perfect so that when people came across the infamous 6â&#x20AC;&#x2122;3â&#x20AC;? basketball player, I did not look like an idiot for being incapable of writing a story. Though I thought I would suffer through this spread, I actually ended up enjoying myself and was proud of the writing improvements I made and the outcome of the story.

Y32. Academic Spread, 056-057

I remember this spread very well, so much so I can still feel the panic I had felt when it was four days before the deadline and we had to change our dominant picture. Since we had to cover such a variety of clubs in this spread, I remember how hard it was to find pictures that would correlate with one another in the layout. Due to our photos having very different angles, we had to get creative in how we can layout to the page where each image is displayed to the best of its abilities. I think the layout designed is very unique and does a good job in making all the photos correlate with one another.

Portfolio 2016

Clips

W Wr i t i n g Theme 152-153, Deadline 4 Sophomore Brittneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Smith profile is one of my favorite pieces of mine from this year. It started of as an unfocused and choppy story and by the end of the deadline, with help from my editors, I was able to turn the story around and make it into what I think is an outstanding profile.