Ashton Seep; Spring, 2016, Portfolio

Journalism Portfolio Spring, 2016

Ashton Seep, Copy Editor

Cover Letter

Resume ASHTON SEEP

Ashton Seep 5133 E. Rancho Caliente Dr. (480)-559-0234 ash0209@gmail.com

5133 E. Rancho Caliente Dr. | (480).559.0234 | ash0209@gmail.com

To whom it may concern,

Computer Skills

After spending three years of my high school career on the Yearbook staff, I am very eager to join another publication after my graduation. I have not found any major prospects, so far, so I am willing to join anyone willing to have me.

Organization

I have experience in publications, as already noted, but I also have experience as Copy Editor.

As any Copy Editor must have knowledge about spelling and grammar, and have a sharp eye to catch mistakes, this should say something about my skills. During my time on the Yearbook staff, I have also gained some experience in writing stories, designing spreads, and taking photos.

SKILLS Cash Management

Excel in Math Life Scout

EDUCATION Cactus Shadows High School · Currently a senior

I am very excited to join any publication possible, to experience life as a journalist on a professional level. I can be reached at any time of the day at 480-559-0234, or can be emailed at ash0209@gmail.com. I look forward to talking with you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

· Honors Math; Pre-Calculus

Sincerely,

WORK EXPERIENCE

· Yearbook Staff Member; completed 2nd Year, Copy Editor for 3rd · Diary of Anne Frank 2015 production Cast Member

2003 - 2008: Volunteer Work (approx. 10 hours), Cub Scout Pack 134

Ashton Seep

2008 - present: Volunteer Work (approx. 21 hours) Boy Scout Troop 603 August, 2013 - May, 2015: Yearbook Staff Member Cactus Shadows Yearbook July 20, 2015 -October, 2015: Courtesy Clerk Fry’s August, 2015 - May, 2016: Copy Editor Cactus Shadows Yearbook

CERTIFICATIONS 2012 – Present: CPR Certified July, 2014: National Youth Leadership Training

Self Evaluation This has been the first semester in which I’ve held a leadership position on the staff as the Copy Editor. Granted, I don’t have much control over the staff, but I still have expectations for them to listen to. So far, everyone has generally been receptive towards my criticism, but I know there have been people who were not pleased with the way I doled it out. I’ve been told that I need to tone myself down a little, or run the risk of alienating myself from the staff, but it’s hard for me to be able to accept the quality of the work I’ve had to review; if I need to say something, then I will.

In terms of my responsibilities as Copy Editor, I’m learning and relearning every day. The rules of grammar are specific, so it’s sometimes hard to memorize it all, but I’m managing to stay on top of it. I have made several mistakes, which were caught by others, but that just means I have more to learn. My only saving grace is that I’m very picky about what I read; if there are mistakes in it, I catch them immediately. That generally poses a problem, because I then get myself upset over it, which is unnecessary.

Still, a grammar editor should have the ability to recognize and correct mistakes, which I have in spades.

At the end of the year, I can’t say I’m not happy to be leaving. After the first semester, the staff completely ignoring me weighed me down heavily, and I just didn’t care about what they were doing anymore. It’s not fun to be disrespected by the staff you work with, and it’s very frustrating when they ignore you and refuse to try to do things correctly. I’m very tired, and I’m glad I don’t have to deal with the staff anymore, especially since my sophomore and junior year had much better staff members, ones who actually cared about whether I lived or died.

Honesty is the best policy, and I hope I’m being honest enough when I say this: I wouldn’t be surprised if half of the staff joined the class because they thought it would be an easy ‘A.’

Reflection 1 I feel as though my main contribution to the publication, which is also my main role, is the editing I do for each and every spread that we send to Herff Jones. It’s an important role for any journalistic company; if your articles look terrible or are hard to read, how can you get your messages across to the public? It’s not an easy job either; mistakes are hard to see, sometimes, so it can pass right by your eyes without you noticing a thing.

That’s why the system we had last year, where 10 people had to check over each page before we would begin correcting it, was such a good one. It ensured as little mistakes as possible. Even then, there are those obscure rules or miniscule mistakes that no one can pick up on, even me, so I’m constantly learning about grammar, both journalistic and not.

Nothing has really changed from last semester, and that’s most likely because the job of the Copy Editor is always the same: check for mistakes, fix those mistakes, repeat as necessary, submit final copy to Editor-In-Chief.

Honestly, I was falling very far behind on some of the deadlines, and I wouldn’t have been able to finish editing every spread on time. The only reason we pulled through was with Korie’s help.

Reflection 2 I think my biggest challenge this year is dealing with all of the work I have to take care of.

We haven’t gotten an efficient system, yet, for the pages I need to edit, so there’s a sudden mad rush right at the end to take care of everything before we submit all the pages. The first deadline wasn’t as hectic, since there were only two or three full spreads, so it was a bit of a shock to come into the second deadline with such a workload. Luckily, we have staff members assisting me with the editing process, so that takes some of the load off of my back. I don’t expect them to find most of the problems, however, so I’m not really sure if it’s really all that convenient. Regardless, I have a lot of things I need to take care of, and I have very little time to do it... and I have no idea how I’m going to finish it all.

Now that the year is over, I’m worried for how next year’s staff will deal with editing. Korie has shown she can do the work needed, but there’s still places where she incorrectly judges a spread, leaving huge mistakes behind. Hopefully, there will be a staff member who can edit properly, next year; otherwise, there are going to be either a lot of mistakes, or a lot of work for Mrs. Hart.

Reflection 4 I feel that one of the biggest ways I’ve contributed to the staff is that I am slowly, but surely, teaching them proper grammar. While I have heard several complaints about the way I dole out criticism, I am teaching them as I do it, whether they like it or not. Even at the beginning of the year, I had a full presentation on the rules of journalistic writing (even though Mr. Adamson ended up doing the same thing within the week). So, whenever I go and talk to people about the stories they submitted to me (and the mistakes I found within said story), I am actually trying to help them. They may not like it, they may not accept it, but they will listen to me, and they’ll learn what they need to if they don’t want me to get mad at them again.

At the end of the year, I’m finding myself unable to say I’ve contributed to the staff very much. As the year went on, I feel that the staff gradually listened to me less and less, until I’m nothing more than a figure in the background. Not to say I don’t try, but that me trying isn’t accepted by the rest of the staff.

So, then, I stop trying.

Reflection 5 One of the biggest issues I have to deal with is the ‘mean’ way I’m talking to the staff about their work. Apparently, I’m not being sympathetic enough to the others, and I’ll tell them that they made mistakes in a really rude way.

Well, unfortunately for them, I don’t care what they think. We are a professional publication, which means we have to act like we are professional. If any one of them submitted one of their stories to any other publication in the world, they’d almost certainly be fired on the spot. I have a standards, and I don’t think I’m in the wrong to expect the staff to meet those standards. Whether they took Yearbook because they thought it was an easy credit or not, if they can’t handle critique then they shouldn’t be in the class.

The only problem, however, is that I’m still unsure of myself. I’m not sure if I’m correct when i fix mistakes or let people know what they did wrong. I want to be able to get the point across, but I stumble across my words and end up making myself feel foolish. I want to be sure, though; I want to know that I’m in the right, and that I can tell people what they need to fix. It’s a process, though, so I’ll work on it when I can.

I also have to deal with this bout of unmotivation that recently afflicted me.

Reflection 6 During the past few months, I really didn’t want to do much of anything, and everything felt like a chore rather than something I enjoyed. However, being as it is the end of the year, I don’t have to worry about it much longer.

I still have problems with doubting myself and my work, and there are times where I ask myself whether the change is really necessary, or if the change is correct. I’m hoping that, once I go through college, I’ll grow out of this.

My greatest weakness comes from the frustration I get whenever I read stories full of errors. I mean, I gave a class at the beginning of the year on what not to do when writing, Mr. Adamson gave the exact same class, and they still did the things we told them not to do. It’s like they spat in my face, telling me that my advice doesn’t matter.

Obviously, this is annoying and frustrating, but it affected me negatively, making me unwilling to correct the mistakes. I guess I thought that, since I wasn’t the one who made a mess of the story, I shouldn’t have to be the one to clean it up.

If I want a job as a Copy Editor in the future, I have a lot of work to do if I want to be successful at it.

Reflection 8 It’s been a long ride; three full years on the yearbook staff, and I’m finally graduating. I remember the first day I was doing coverage, and I was panicking because I was taking photos of the football team during practice and I was completely by myself (no blame on Katie Mesenbrink). I was young and shy, but willing to learn and grow out out my shell. Whether I actually succeeded in that has yet to be confirmed.

My second year was very different; I had lost a lot of the motivation from the previous year, and I did little to no work in class. Honestly, it was a miracle that I had managed to pass.

And now, in my third year, I am finally going to leave high school. Being Copy Editor for a year has opened my eyes to what it’s like being in a professional publication; namely, that the job is terrible and frustrating.

But I’ve still learnt a lot through the years. Last year’s portfolio was ridiculously basic: nothing more than pure color, seperated into sections of triangles. This year, while the colors haven’t changed much, I’ve made the design simpler and cleaner, and lessened the intensity of the colors.

But now, at the end of the ride, I don’t think I would have done things any differently.