Reflections

Reflection 1:

My food spread, “Take Your Pick,” is the spread that I consider my most significant piece of work from the Yearbook this year. This was one of the first spreads I got assigned right when I joined the class and I was very excited knowing I love food. My job was to find a story within the cafeteria showcasing their food. I decided to make a spread illustrating the wide range of different options SAGE has to offer. With little to no knowledge on how to make a good spread, I really struggled. Coming up with templates, I quickly came to the realization that I had to go a different route, it wasn’t looking good. With my editors and teacher, we later thought about doing a modular spread with different plates of food. I loved this idea and I immediately went to work. To make a long story short, many of the rough drafts I created with this new idea once again did not work. Although the layout came out beautiful, the food did not look appealing. Nevertheless, I pushed through and I was able to come up with a spread that today I am very proud of. At the end, I was successfully able to show off all the different options the school cafeteria has to offer in a fun and creative way. After this process, I was more confident in my abilities in making spreads and in my photography: lighting, angles, etc. I am proud of the layout and the writing, knowing it was one of my first. I love how bright the colors look on this spread and how yummy the food looks, (after taking many food pictures). I think it’s safe to say that I will remember this spread as a core experience in my yearbook journey.

Reflection 2:

I was an asset to this staff and publication this year through my time management/organization and my strong work ethic. I have always been a very organized person when it comes to my work, so when I joined the Yearbook, I found it easy to keep track of deadlines and my tasks. I believe that my organization’s skills also exhibited in my spreads as I constantly followed standards. I will acknowledge, towards the beginning I struggled with standards and applying them to my spreads, but when I started getting comfortable with the concept, it slowly started becoming second nature. I also contribute to the staff with my strong work ethic. I am constantly working hard to demonstrate commitment and willingness towards my spreads/overall work in the class. This year, I have improved immensely and this is evident by the evolution of my many spreads since the beginning of the school year.

Reflection 3:

A big value that I learned while becoming a part of the yearbook staff was discipline. I have always been someone to leave work until the last minute, but everything changed this year. When I got my first spread assignment, I didn’t think it would take me as long as it did to complete it. So, while I thought I could leave everything till the last minute, I quickly was mistaken as I constantly had to remake my spreads, pictures, and writing, while still keeping in mind the deadline date. I learned that I always had to keep working on my assignments, even if I didn’t feel like it at the moment. I always knew that if I didn’t work on it that day, the work would start piling up and I would get more stressed later on. It helped me immensely with my time management skills and contributed to my health and well being. It was a big learning experience because it was my first glimpse of what a real job looks like. It was a huge awakening, and I’m really happy that I got to experience it in highschool and not when I am already out in the real world.