Muhart_Morgan 2014

Morgan Muhart portfolio 2014

Morgan Muhart

morganmuhart.wordpress.com morgan.muhart@gmail.com

twitter.com/mmuhart pinterest.com/mmuhart

May 16, 2014 Ms. Renee Burke 1000 E. Kaley Street Orlando, FL 32804 (407) 893-7200 renee.burke@gmail.com Dear Ms. Burke, Perhaps Legend Yearbook staff is seeking a copy editor to continue what the previous one began in her two years as editor. If this is so, please accept the accompanying resume for review and consideration for the position of copy editor.

Because of my two years of experience on the yearbook staff, I have conducted numerous interviews, written multiple stories and taken thousands of photos. I think my time as a staffer has allowed me to understand how the system works and I feel like I would be able to lead staffers in their endeavors through the writing process. My writing skills have improved significantly over these past two years, and I feel like now I am more prepared than ever to show staffers and newbies how to write a fantastic story for the yearbook.

In addition to my knowledge of being a yearbook staffer, my skills in noticing grammar and spelling errors would truly benefit the staff and ultimately, the yearbook. I am constantly helping my sisters with their English homework when they either aren’t sure how to organize their essays or they need to know how to spell a certain word. I also tutor my younger neighbors and a fifth grader from my sisters’ school so I know I would be able to be encouraging, as well as teaching, staffers the right way to write.

Although the accompanying resume illustrates my background well, I feel like a personal interview with you would demonstrate my knowledge and abilities better. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you at your convenience. Thank you for your review and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Respectively yours,

Morgan Muhart Enclosed: resume

Morgan Muhart

morganmuhart.wordpress.com morgan.muhart@gmail.com

twitter.com/mmuhart pinterest.com/mmuhart

OBJECTIVE To bring positivity to the staff and continue to help create an amazing yearbook.

EDUCATION • Completed three years at William R. Boone High School • Estimated graduation date: May 2015 • G.P.A. 4.6 EXPERIENCE Weekday School Fun Fair Volunteer Nov 2010 to Nov 2012. Provided assistance wherever needed to make sure the preschool students and their families had a good time at the Fun Fair.

Yearbook Staff Member, Boone High School August 2012-Present. Wrote stories about the student body; took photographs; interviewed a diverse range of students, teachers and coaches; and learned lessons on time management and how to work well with others.

Summer Camp Assistant, The Christ School June and July 2013. Head student assistant in Kinder-Express showing the upcoming kindergarteners how their days would be as a kindergarten student and how to play well with others.

Fifth Grade Math Tutor 2013-present. Paid to tutor fifth grader before her tests weekly or as often as needed.

RELEVANT HIGH SCHOOL STUDIES Journalism I, II, and VII, Visual Technology, English I, II, AP Language and Composition.

HONORS, AWARDS AND MEMBERSHIPS Honors Breakfast. Consecutive Decembers beginning in 2011. Honor given for maintaining a 3.5 GPA or higher throughout the first semester of each freshman and sophomore year.

French Honor Society. April 2013-present. An honor bestowed upon those who maintained a 3.5 or higher in at least three semesters of French class and are active members of French Club.

Certified in Adobe Photoshop. May 2013-present. Showed skills in creating Photoshop documents and knowledge behind editing photos.

National Honor Society. October 2013-present. A highly recognized club dedicated to volunteer service, leadership and academic success.

REFERENCES • Kara Santefemio: mother of tutoring client.

• Susan Dodgion, kindergarten teacher, led Kinder-Express.

Self Evaluation My passion for writing began at a young age. I remember filling notebooks from beginning to end with ideas for various stories I had in mind. When I discovered there was a way for me to further develop my love of writing throughout high school, I was elated and signed up for journalism the first chance I got.

Soon, I fell in love with yearbook. I loved the idea of creating something that would forever be on students’ bookshelves. It may have brought a considerable amount of stress into my life, but I would never change the moment I decided to join staff, as I have learned so much more than just journalism.

Working in Room 224 is very similar to working in an office. We constantly have deadlines that we have to follow and learn how to juggle all the tasks at hand, just as those in business do on a regular basis. With the knowledge I have gained from these days on staff, I know I have gained valuable production skills that I will use in my future.

Along with the actual production skills I gained, I have also learned about setting goals for myself. Deadlines are always a lot of work to get done and if one doesn’t make a plan for each day during the deadline, it will be a challenge to complete it. I discovered that when you plan your days out, things will tend to go your way when working on a specific deadline.

Challenges and hardships were only one aspect of yearbook. There are always going to be difficulties and struggles when making a page, but you just have to fight through it and overcome any hardship you may face.

Teamwork is probably the most important part of yearbook that you have to deal with. Constantly working with partners on spreads makes way for skills of teamwork to form in your mind. Also, dealing with interviewing and photographing students on campus develops how well you work with others.

I think I was an asset to staff this year with my writing that was in the book. I wrote every story for my deadlines, even when working with a partner. I feel like this should be important to the staff because I think my writing has improved significantly so then the stories I wrote in the book helped to make it even better.

REFLECTIONS

Reflection 1-Analysis I think my most significant piece of work this year is the Kiss the Pig spread. Though it seemed like the worries would outweigh the finished product, it soon became my favorite spread from this year.

I wanted the spread to be impressive and meaningful, so I spent a substantial amount of time developing it and taking as many photos as I could. Three days after school, I went to the Student Government Association’s sponsor room to photograph the sophomores who were busy counting and collecting the change they received from the various teachers across campus. for the chairtable event.

Then came the moment that would make or break the spread. The ‘Kiss’ occurred during halftime of the football game on October 4, and it was incredibly important to get this photo. My editor, Kristen Dugan, ended up taking an amazing photo for the spread and this issue was solved.

I even had to go through multiple interviews with a couple of teachers because the first teacher I used, ended up being needed for another page later on in the deadline. I became quite nervous at this point because I quickly had to find another SGA sponsor or teacher to fill in for the story. Racing down the hallway of the 500 building, I found Ms. Hines and interviewed her, which worked out for Kiss the Pig perfectly.

The resulting page is something I am beyond proud of. I smile every time I flip my yearbook open to pages 50 and 51. Though the process may have been overwhelming at times, everything worked out and the spread became such a wonderful part of the book.

Reflection 1-1st Draft

Reflection 1-Final

Reflection 2 DM13-I choose this piece to enter because I think I often write significant wrap-ups and I enjoy writing them. The game I wrote about was an exciting one and I feel like I showed that well through my writing. http://teacherpress.ocps.net/hilights/2014/04/03/ girls-lacrosse-suffer-a-loss-against-east-river/ Y5- I choose this piece to enter because I felt like the Kiss the Pig copy was the best story I wrote all year. It had a lot of emotion and was a really important event for a multitude of people on campus.

“Tied for the Kiss” page 50 Y4- I choose this piece to enter because I thought the subject of the story was fascinating and the students really wanted to discuss it. It is a topic that is current and I think I captured the main idea of technology in education really well.

“Electronics Advance Education” page 83

Reflection 3 Every year one hopes he or she has grown in some way. With a past portfolio in front of you, it is quite clear to see how one has grown. In my case, I can definitely see an improvement in both writing and design.

Looking back at last year’s portfolio, I noticed a multitude of errors that I have tried to eliminate from this portfolio. I believe that since then, I have grown as a writer, and I hope this to be evident from the reflections and essays I am writing. As I was reading my last self-analytical essay, I felt like the diction and sentence structure that I used throughout the paper was juvenile and immature. Throughout the multiple reflections, it feels like more conversational diction and not professional enough for the portfolio. I used multiple clichés and they don’t make my writing any better, despite what I may have been thinking at the moment.

I also feel like my overall design has become much more professional and more advanced as well. I spent more time thinking over what kind of design describes me as a person. I carried the design through and made it more evident on each page. I think my design is more professional and I think my color scheme and fonts create the look that truly show who I am.

Having a portfolio to look back at helps me see how much I’ve grown as both a journalist and a person. I love being able to look at it whenever I can so that I can continue to develop and make each year’s design and writing better than the previous year.

CLIPS

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photography-sports Clips

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I think this is one of my best photos because it shows good depth of field and portrays the relationships made on staff. It displays the editor assisting a new staffer and I think that is a really cool perspective to show how yearbook really is during those stressful workdays and minutes before the end of a deadline. It shows the team effort behind yearbook, and I don’t think people always get to see that, so that is why I really like this photo.

Clips

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I think this is one of my best photos from the year because the boy’s emotion is so apparent through his facial expression and one can see all the action going on in that moment of time. It is a good example of center of visual interest as he is directly in the middle of the photo. The moment I shot this photo I knew it would be one that I liked because the student is very expressive and was really into his dancing during Homecoming.

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I think this is one of my best pictures from the year because again the expression in the photo truly tells the story of the Faculty-Student Basketball Game and what the teachers were doing to distract the other team. The photo is a good example of the rule of thirds as the subject, the teacher “cheerleaders� were in the corner of the photo.

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http://teacherpress.ocps.net/hilights/2014/02/19/lady-braves-defeat-celebration/

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http://teacherpress.ocps.net/hilights/2014/04/03/girls-lacrosse-suffer-a-loss-against-east-river/

DESIGNS

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Design 2

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Design 3