Morgan Rowland Portfolio 2013
Morgan Rowland 4844 Lorraine Way, Orlando, FL 32812 mmrowland22@gmail.com 321-948-6538
April 22, 2013 Eric and Bridget Rutledge 1106 W. New Hampshire St. College Park, FL 32804 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Rutledge, Perhaps as parents you are seeking to recruit the talent of a babysitter who is reliable, responsible and has completed multiple child care courses. If this is the case, then please accept the accompanying resume for your review and consideration when seeking a babysitter in which these strengths and knowledge will be of value. Even though I have not had much experience yet, from the information Elizabeth Eischer has provided me, I feel qualified to watch Parker and Avery because of skills I have obtained through school clubs and professional courses. In all the clubs I partake in, I collaborate with others to solve problems and do my best to utilize all tools provided to me. As a leader of groups, I know how to take charge and direct others. As a leader, I enjoy helping and teaching others so they can grow. I know how to think through a problem to come up with the best solution for all participants. Babysitting your children would give me a chance to develop useful skills I could use when caring for other children. Although the accompanying resume illustrates my background well, I feel a personal interview would better demonstrate my knowledge and abilities. I would appreciate the opportunity to meet with you at a convenient time. Thank you for your review and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Respectfully yours,
Morgan Rowland Enclosed: resume
Morgan Rowland
4844 Lorraine Way, Orlando, FL 32812 mmrowland22@gmail.com 321-948-6538 OBJECTIVE: To develop skills I could utilize when caring for other children by babysitting your children EDUCATION
Boone High School, August 2011- June 2015 G.P.A: 4.69 Florida Safety Council, 2012 Completed an online course in driver safety and logged six hours of driver training with an instructor. American Red Cross, 2010 Completed a babysitting course. Arnold Palmer Hospital, 2010 Completed a two-day child care course and became CPR certified.
INVOLVEMENT/SKILLS
Boone Legend Yearbook staffer, August 2012-present As a member of this group, I was responsible for meeting constant deadlines and collaborating with students and faculty to obtain interviews and photos. Member of Spanish Club, August 2012-present I remain an active member of one of the largest clubs on Boone’s campus by attending bi-weekly meetings and participating in multi-cultural events throughout the year. Member of Spanish Honor Society, February 2012-present To be inducted, I had to maintain an active membership in Spanish Club to accumulate participation points. As a member, I attend bi-weekly meetings and tutor other students in Spanish. Bowling team, August 2012-November 2012 As a part of this small team, I competed with nine other girls in matches around the Orlando area.
WORK/VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Dancer and co-instructor of Zumba classes, January 2012-present Zumba is a Latin dance workout class. After attending class a few times each week for a year, I was asked to help teach and motivate the group. When the instructor went on a business trip, I was selected to lead about 40 people in a synchronized, workout routine. Volunteer for A New Beginning at Petsmart, 2011-present: A New Beginning is a nonprofit pet organization that rescues animals from shelters and finds them a forever home. As a volunteer, I not only care for the dogs, but also show others the love a pet can provide and hopefully this leads to an adoption. Babysat for Andrew and Kathleen Daughan, April 2013: Independently watched a 17-month-old girl for seven hours on a weekend.
REFERENCES
Alicia Flores, Zumba instructor, zumbalicia@gmail.com, 407-243-1969 Elizabeth Eischer, family friend, 314-706-4595
Self-analytical Evaluation Ever since first grade, I’ve been interested in writing. I remember signing up for my high school classes in the computer lab in middle school and selecting journalism because it was related to writing. When I arrived in the class, I had no idea what to expect. Each assignment made me nervous but for some reason, I enjoyed doing them. I found it fascinating to hear a variety of perspectives from fellow students about an unique, current topics. Each had her own idea that could only be expressed through my story. I find out exciting to have the job of telling their stories. This year, I learned both production and social skills. I built my knowledge of design by watching and working with section editors. Even though I did not design anything specifically, I understand the rules better than I did before this course. In addition, I learned how to utilize new tools in Photoshop and InDesign. Meeting deadlines is an useful skill I have also learned. Each deadline comes with numerous mini deadlines. Completing each one on time is important because once one gets behind, it becomes increasingly difficult to catch up. Collaborating with others to meet these deadlines is essential to complete them. One spread is the work of multiple people, not just one. Everyone on staff wants to be proud of their work and wants to show others how they feel they have captured our school through a publication. This is why the sale of the book is very important. One does not know how to sell her work until one gets out there. In reality, there are people who want to buy the book but do not realize how or why they should to purchase it. They do not want to miss out of the collection of memories we have to offer. Working on a spread can be challenging at first. When students and/or teachers who are part of your work do not comply, it can be frustrating and tempt you to break journalism ethics but one has to remember, if they want a strong puzzle, they need all the pieces to fit just right. The amount of dedication I have gained to this course and the yearbook is probably the most I have ever had for anything in my life, but that does not bother me. I do it because I love it. I love the family we have created and knowing that every member is here for the same reason makes me happy. Each skill acquired through yearbook is adaptable to everyday life. No matter what you do in life, you will always have to work with others to accomplish a task. Every single day in this class, you have to collaborate with at least one person at an attempt to create the strongest work possible. This course not only improved my design, photo and writing skills, but also showed me how one group can come together to create a book that captures the year and lasts a lifetime.
Reflection #1 I believe my in-depth of parental pressure on students is my most significant piece of work this year. It was intimidating to be the only newbie with an in-depth coverage as a first deadline. I was unsure of what this specific kind of spread entailed and, at first, was afraid to ask. However, I realized in order to complete the task at hand, I had to speak up. I began asking my section editor questions and the rest seemed to flow from there. I obtained my interviews and thought I would feel stuck and not know how to write the story, but I sat down one night and wrote it in a half hour. The quotes I had were strong and the story basically wrote itself. I am proud of this body copy because it shows three different stories from three different students about one common, high school topic. Since I had an in-depth spread, I posed all my photos. The one shot I will never forget is the half cob of a parent standing over her child, but you cannot see their faces. I checked out a camera five different times in order to take this photo. I learned that even if the camera is high quality and does the hard work for you, not everybody can use one correctly. Neither of my parents could figure out how to get the right angle and in the end, I stacked up my textbooks and set a timer on the camera to shoot the picture. My body copy tells stories through words but the secondary coverage shows the concept from a different angle. It shows the more factual side and puts actual numbers to the story. Both views bring the spread together to make an unique piece that I am proud to call mine.
Reflection #1
Reflection #1
Reflection #2 My second deadline where I covered homecoming nights is the spread I struggled with most and could use the most work. My discomfort with the other staffers and failure to reread were the major reasons for my struggle. First, at the beginning of the deadline, I could not find a ride to the Powder Puff football game and was too afraid to tell any of the editors. However, I did not think it was crucial to the assignment until after missing the game. For some reason it did not occur to me that I would have to right copy about an event I had not even attended until later in the process. Another factor of my page I wish I had the opportunity of editing is the placement of pictures. I think I have decent photos but I wish I had time to group them by each event (Powder Bowl and Braves Brawl) to give the page a better flow. Separating the two events would make it easier for the reader to distinguish between each one. To balance photos, one needs a strong body copy to explain the subject more in depth. I thought I was fine with my story until I read it in the actual yearbook. I found two grammatical mistakes within the text. In addition, I found the copy did not have a clear flow and had a very weak ending. I know I write better than this so it is a personal disappointment.
Reflection #2
Reflection #3
This is my favorite photo of this whole year on staff. It was my photo teacher’s favorite picture at camp. A great action shot, this photo both fills the frame and has rule of thirds. I am attracted to it because I think it expresses the fun we all had at camp. Saved as: 058-001_halloran
Reflection #3
I am very proud of this photo because of the depth of field. In addition, the repetition of girls is a leading line up to the center of visual interest, the girl right up front. Saved as: 080-001_garcia
Reflection #3
I like this photo because the focus is on the subject and the surrounding environment is out of focus (depth of field). Saved as : 081-006_Gonzalez
Reflection #4 I believe I contributed great body copy and pictures to the 2013 edition of the yearbook. I am a strong writer and made each story worth reading and not to factual. My two favorite pictures I shot this year are dominants on spreads in the clubs section. Besides actual production contributions, I always looked to help others when they needed it. I aided others in writing body copy whether they were struggling to reword a sentence or fix a widow. I feel collaborating with my peers was my most important contribution. Everybody needs help sometimes and I was always ready to help when someone needed me. I am very dedicated and spend a lot of time on my work in this course because I love what we do. I stayed after school whenever I could to improve my pages. In addition, I sacrificed my Saturdays, not only to attend workdays, but to shoot events for my pages. For example, I spent 12 hours at a NJROTC competition to get the majority of the photos for my page. When I was working on the wrestling page, I stayed after school in the wrestling room a few times each week for about a month and a half to interview wrestlers and understand the overall dynamic of the team. Occurrences like these took up my time but I think in the end, it always paid off.
Reflection #5 One of the most difficult problems I faced this year was stepping out of my comfort zone. Coming on to staff was very intimidating. I did not really know anybody and felt like everybody knew each other. At the Halloween party, specifically, I felt really out of place and alone. I was afraid to talk to anybody because I thought they would not like me. I left the party feeling really sad and left out. This discomfort also affected my work. For example, for my spread about homecoming nights, I did not have a ride to Powder Bowl and I was too scared to tell anyone. Missing this event had a negative effect on my body copy for the deadline. From these situations I learned sometimes the only way to overcome the problem is to face it head on. As scary as it is, one needs to step out of her comfort zone if she wants the problem to be solved. Looking back, at the party, I should have sat next to people I did not know well and started a conversation. I had a false preconception of everyone. I know now that I would not have be pushed away. This preconceived notion was a major factor in my other situation as well. I thought if I told someone I did not have a ride, they would be mad at me for not being prepared. I think I handled both situations poorly. I should have spoken up. From them, I learned to talk to others when I need help because the reality is never as terrifying as the imagination.
Reflection #6 My first goal was to meet all my deadlines for the rest of the school year. Unfortunately, I did not meet this goal. When planning to achieve this goal, I thought being able to drive would solve the problem. I thought I would be able to stay after school whenever I needed to finish working and go to events I was covering on a page. However, I could not get a parking spot at school so I remained with the same obstacles as I had before. I did make some of the deadlines during the second semester but most of them I do not see as big accomplishments because I had current events and a letter for the index. My second goal was to get to know other staffers better. I absolutely accomplished this one. I now feel a lot closer with my other staffers and even became good friends with some of them. I love them all so much. I would not trade the times I had with the staff for anything in the world. After I built up my courage and started talking to people, I realized how kind everyone was and felt like a part of the family. My third goal was to not be resubbed the rest of the year. I feel I pretty much succeeded. The only time I was resubbed was on the track story I wrote with Brynne. I do not feel this was a big setback though because it was not just my writing that was resubmitted, it was the collaborative effort of me and Brynne. I know I am a strong writer and I have become more confident in my skills after meeting this goal.
Reflection #6
Reflection #6
Reflection #7 Y4. Academic writing. 062-063 I would like this piece to represent me because I feel it is my strongest body copy I wrote this year and takes an innovative angle on an interesting subject. To date, this story is my favorite I have written and the one with which I share the strongest personal connection.
Y3. Sports feature writing. 174-175 I would like this piece to represent me because even though the story does not summarize the season, it explores an unique topic that is specific to this particular sport. I think it gives the reader a stronger personal connection to the members of the team.
Y18. Feature photo. I would like the dominant on this page to represent me for this category because I think the photo has great composition aspects, such as depth of field and repetition. I think it shows a clean display of the event taking place.
Design
Design
Clips
Writing
Clips
Academics
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Writing
Clips
Sports
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Writing
Clips
Index/Current Events
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Writing
Clips
Index/Current Events
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Writing
Clips
Sports
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Clips
Photography Clubs
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Clips
Photography Clubs
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Clips
Photography Student Life
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Clips
Multimedia Online Beats
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy
Clips
Multimedia Online Beats
What’s Mine:
story
captions
secondary
photos
art
alternative copy