Grace Carey's portfolio

G

R

A

C

E

S

P O R T F O L I O ‘19

E S S A Y

Throughout this semester I have learned a lot. Not only am I able to design an entire page by myself, using InDesign; I am also able to take photos as well as edit them using photoshop. In the future I hope to put these skills to good use, when I pursue my career in journalism, law, and media.

Deadlines, as always, come up so much faster than expected. I often feel that I am behind, however, that is rarely the case. For the most part, I am pretty good at meeting most, if not all, deadlines. In the coming months, if I were to make one change to my deadline completion strategy, it would be to be more on top of writers. This would allow me to start designing my page sooner.

This year, is an interesting year in newspaper.

There are so many new kids, and so many people that I’m friends with. For many, it may seem to be a distraction, but I think it adds to the family aspect of the classroom. It became so much easier to talk to the writers and ask them to complete something, because they want to try to help. I think that overall, the large class and the people in it have pushed me to write higher quality because even though we’re all friends, they’re my competition.

As far as ethics go, I know that I understand

them really well. I feel that it is a huge part of my job, as an editor, to make sure that all bias is left out of the paper. When I was at Columbia last March, I took a class on ethics in journalism and I have definitely been able to bring some of the tactics I learned back to the classroom.

It is only December, however, that means that the school year is already halfway over.

Through the course of the semester I have been a valuable asset to the staff because when I need someone to get something done, it typically gets done. I also edit 3-4 pages every month, therefore, I am in charge of a least 12 stories per issue.

Nobody is perfect, and I think that that is something that I have had to come to terms with this semester. Sometimes, my pages needed so much work that I didn't even know how I could have missed so many errors. Other times, I doubted my skills as an editor all together. But, once I slowed down and took the time to read each story carefully, the editing mistakes drastically changed. I was no longer making simple mistakes. Next semester I will continue to do what I am doing now, take the time out of my day to read carefully so I am able to make sure the best quality stories are going to print.

R E F L E C T I O N #1

From September to December, my favorite piece that I wrote was definitely my first one of the year. I liked my story because it went deeper than the average article.

I wrote about the college admissions falsifications that had been surfacing around that time, it was the perfect time for a story like that. Not only did I enjoy writing it but I know that as high schoolers start to prepare for college, they are interested in hearing about something like that.

The slug was called “Selling Kids�, which may give off the wrong meaning, however, it catches the eye.

One of my favorite things about writing this story was that when it was completed, I felt that I had accomplished more than just writing a story. I felt that my interviews were solid and all my evidence was backed with credible sources.

Stories like this, on occasion, are slightly harder to complete in comparison to an average story. This is because it is so vital to have strong interviews and research that has been validated over and over again. In addition, even getting an interview can be a lot of work.

That is part of the reason why I enjoy writing opinion pieces so much, they do not require interviews. Sometimes, with all the editing of other stories that I have on my plate, it is easier to not even have to worry about interviews. For me, this story was one that I was glad to compose.

From start to finish I was really passionate about the story, primarily because I am so hyper focused on college.

Living up to my interview lineup from last year will be hard, but it is stories like this one that make me believe that all the hard work and reaching out to almost impossible sources, is worth it. Having the best stories I can is so important to me, probably because I am so competitive with anything and everything.

In the coming months, I plan to write more stories like this. Although in the moment they are a heavy workload, it is such a satisfying reward to see all the hard work pay off. Not only because of the elements of design, but because it is something that you worked so tirelessly for.

R E F L E C T I O N #2

R E F L E C T I O N #3

I was proud of my article about selling kids to other families in order to fake college financial aid needs. I found the evidence extremely interesting and thought others would as well. Not only was it shocking to hear about other people from different states doing that, but to think that it could be happening in our own backyard is crazy.

My article on whether or not Mexico is safe, I also found very interesting. Finding out all of the statistics regarding actual tourist fatalities versus what the media said it was, was fascinating. Not only that, but since it is such a popular place for Arizonian families to visit, I thought it would be important knowledge. The article was an opinion piece, but I tried to keep it as fact based as possible, with evidence, as I could.

R E F L E C T I O N #3 Another achievement that I am proud of is my December pages. In the months that I have been an editor, it is evident that I have grown exponentially. It was scary not having Adamson there to pull apart my pages just as I had gotten them exactly layed out how I wanted them. But, I was able to complete my entire page count with just a little help from my peers. For me, this was a big step, considering a few months ago InDesign was so foreign to me.

T E A R S H E E T S W H A T I D E S I G N E D : S E P T E M B E R

T E A R S H E E T S W H A T I D E S I G N E D : O C T O B E R

T E A R S H E E T S W H A T I D E S I G N E D : N O V E M B E R

T E A R S H E E T S W H A T I D E S I G N E D : D E C E M B E R

T E A R S H E E T S W H A T I W R O T E