Max Hancock Portfolio
Self Evaluation
This semester, I learned what it actually meant to hold real responsibility within a publication. Contrary to my previous year as a staff writer, I was in charge of editing a page, hustling the writers writing on that page, and communicating with the other editors to discuss the needs of our paper in order to ensure its success. A specific example that comes to mind was when I had to rewrite the entirety of the “Recent Natural Disasters” story. This duty of having to rewrite a story if I had to was new to me, but it taught me real responsibility. After adjusting and rewriting the story to meet the standards of the paper, the story ended up being cut anyways after I realized there wouldn’t be enough space on my page to fit it. Learning these skills will indefinitely help me in my future, whether it be work or school. Because I learned what real responsibility was and how to run an entire page of a complex publication, jobs I have in the future where people rely on my success will now be a breeze. Something unique about this year was the fact that the deadlines were much trickier to keep track of. Similarly from last year, the newspaper ran on deadlines. However, contrary to last year, half of the semester was online, so completing work on the deadline was much harder when there was no one in person to nag you to complete one’s work in time. It took absolute discipline to complete my work from home and it certainly wasn’t easy. In the future I plan on making my own planner to keep track of important dates specific to me. For example, stories I need from the writers of my page, and when I should have my page done by. As far as teamwork went this year, I feel that I excelled. Being a new editor was hard, and I definitely had no idea what I was doing for a majority of the semester. So, I had to really rely on the other editors and Editor- In- Chiefs when it came to the design of my page and how I ran my section of the paper. Without teamwork, I would have been drowned in confusion and limitless questions. What I would have done differently was asked these questions sooner. In addition to everything I’ve learned this semester, I learned even more about journalism ethics. I learned how important it is to keep the information I include in my stories 100 percent authentic. With Coronavirus ravenging the globe, I had to write various stories about the virus. Most times, the information and statistics weren’t easy to find. So, it was easy to be tempted to make up statistics and case numbers. Journalism ethics was the only force in keeping me from doing so. This year, I felt that I was a valuable asset to the paper by turning in all my work perfectly on time. All my stories were written by the due date and my page was completed before it needed to be. For example, when I was designing my page for the first time, I had my format and stories written two days before it was due. This was my display of dedication. My biggest weakness this year was staying motivated. Working from home for most of this semester was challenging, I had no one to keep nagging me to do my work and the paper was in a dismal state. In order to fix this problem I had to root a personal code in myself to do my work on time. I plan on using this code for the second semester to come.
My Best Work
This semester, I completed a large plethora of stories and sidebars, writing for pages all across the paper. However, there is one story that I wrote that I felt particularly proud of, my Electoral College Opinion piece. This story not only showcased my ability to write an opinionated story, but showed that I knew how to research and grasp a topic before writing about it. As soon as this story opportunity was proposed by Claire for the last publication of the semester, I knew I wanted to write it. My purpose in writing this story was to establish my opinion in favor of the Electoral College as it becomes more and more of a hot topic of debate. Those who read the story could hopefully assess my stance and opinions provided and take into account their own stance on the subject. I found the writing process of the story incredibly easy. In fact, I wrote all 500 words the day it was assigned to me in class. I knew exactly where to do my research and where I could find answers to my questions. Because I only had the Electoral College Opinion piece to write as my one story for the month of December, I focused all my attention to it and continued to improve it each day. I looked for typo’s, way’s readers could find fault in my claims, and room for improvement in the way my research was formatted. Eventually, my story evolved from more of a “rant” to an opinionated claim. When Claire read the first copy of my story, she was in approval but she had her problems like all professional editors do. She saw that it lacked an appropriate counter argument towards the ending paragraphs. I had failed to realize this when reading my first draft. I was able to acknowledge the opposing audience’s views of being in favor of a popular vote in some of the final paragraphs of my story. This was a good learning moment for me. Not only did I learn how important it was for me to always include a counter argument in my Opinion piece, but I learned how to appeal to readers from opposing viewpoints. In the end, my Electoral College Opinion piece - what I thought to be my best work, didn’t make the cut to be published in the December issue. Although This may not have been a writing issue, there was not enough space on Claires page to include it. I was proud of myself and how quickly I was able to complete this story and feel confident about it. In particular, I
really liked how I balanced my opinions and standings on the subject with research and insight from founding fathers and various studies.
Three Ex Among Us video game popular among students
I chose this story for a large variety of reasons. First of all, it was a hard story to cover. The topic seemed so small and to be able to write 400 words on such a small video game seemed impossible. In the end, I was able to write this story with ease and the satisfaction I felt after finishing it was unmatched. A unique feature of this story were the interviews. For the two student interviews, I went out during lunch and interviewed two random kids I had never met before: Braden Peters, and Gavin Peirce. They added a great touch of authenticity to the story, making “Among Us” feel like a real trend.
Voting age should not be lowered
Similar to my Electoral College opinion piece, I volunteered for this story as soon as it was proposed by Claire. This story was kind of overwhelming at first because there were so many thoughts I wanted to express and effectively putting them on paper seemed impossible. Eventually, I was able to compose my thoughts and this story exceeded my expectations. I chose this story as one of my best works because all of my claims were backed up well by legitimate statistics and examples. I used examples that my audience could relate to in their lives. Overall I felt it gave the story a nice touch and made it easy for the readers to understand my stance on the subject thoroughly.
Campsites to stay at
This story was the first travel story I had ever written before and I had little to no idea what to expect. I was aware of how hard it was to get interviews for stories like this but it proved to be a great experience in the end. The quotes from Alex Grove, Mr. Cupo, and Abraham Paris, allowed the reader to make a connection with the writing- like I wasn’t speaking down to them. This story forced me to think about material to write about in order to reach my 500 word count more than any other story I had ever written. It challenged me and helped me grow my skills as a writer. Overall, I ended up being very proud of this story. It was helpful to the reader in offering campsites to visit and it was a great experience writing a local story.
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Being an Editor
Frankly, This semester was definitely not what I expected it to be. I imagined myself diving right into Adobe InDesign and Photoshop with training from the summer, and that I would know exactly what I was doing 100% of the time. This could not have been more false. I taught myself more than I ever could have thought about editing stories, being efficient, and how to work with Adobe software. Because of this challenging semester, none of the other editors really had time to bat us new editors an eye because most of them were struggling themselves. These forced new editors such as myself had to adapt and overcome the trials in front of me. This semester really opened my eyes about how important a physical paper is. Online publications are effective but have missing elements that really capture the attention of the reader. Because of this, I had to learn how to pick stories that would not only work well on my page, but really have headlines that would grab the reader and turn heads. However, I really learned how much harder a physical newspaper is to create. Formatting, and working with the software was challenging but had a satisfaction that was unmatched when a page was complete. I am definitely not one to be super comfortable with being in a leadership position, but this year I had to overcome that. Telling my writers to fix their edits or get on track wasn’t always the easiest, I felt like a hypocrite and that I was being bossy. Eventually, I learned to just say “screw it” in a sense, and to just say what needed to be said in order to keep my page and the newspaper as a whole afloat. This made me realize that it’s not always about making everyone of the staff writers like you but to have them respect you. Respect is what makes the paper run. Respect is what makes writers have their stories done on time. Respect is what makes people do what they’re supposed to do when told. There were many instances where I had to tell some of my bestfriends to stop slacking and to do their assignments, and while that was not pleasant, we shared a mutual respect. After a whole semester, being a leader grew on me and I learned to understand the limitations of my authority. I liked being able to take charge when I thought charge should have been taken. Overall, it’s great being a positive force in pushing the paper forward, but to say that leadership didn’t have it’s challenges would be a lie. As stated previously, I felt like a hypocrite bossing people around, but I learned how to not be one. I believe that just like the older and sicker wolves move in the front of the pack and set the pace, the weaker (new and less experienced) editors are the ones who will decide the pace and success of the paper. Right behind them, the strong wolves (experienced and knowledgeable) editors are there to protect them from mistakes in production and to help them along the way. With the Leader of the pack in the back (Editor and Chiefs) their role is to not only warn the rest of the wolves of past mistakes and oncoming dangers, but to let the other wolves lead the way because it allows the pack as a whole to grow.