Cait Bunkers

CAIT’S PORTFOLIO

CAIT’S PORTFOLIO

ESSAY 1

I learned how to use InDesign, which I’m really enjoying! I find it pretty difficult, but I know I can learn the software. I always mix up the white arrow and the black arrow, but I’m sure that’ll go away with time ;). Additionally, I learned new functions in Flow, such as how to create the workflow and make sure photos and stories submit to the right people at the right time. I had a bit of difficulty with those functions at first, but I was able to master them quickly, and by the time we were back in the classroom, I could assign stories and workflows with my eyes closed. Well, maybe not with my eyes closed, but you know what I mean! My ability to learn Flow as quickly as I did gives me hope that I will have mastered InDesign by the end of the school year.

I am going to use my new skills to make both editions of the paper, print, and online, the best they can be.

Last year, I learned the importance of deadlines as a staff writer, but this year, I relearned that importance from a whole new perspective: enforcing them. Before becoming an editor, I had no clue how hard it would be to try to get five+ writers and photographers to get their interviews, write their stories, make the edits, and take photos on a schedule. Besides needing to enforce them, there are new deadlines that I need to make sure I meet. When I create my page layout, I need to work efficiently so that it’s in on time. Also, I have to edit stories on time so they don’t delay page layout. It seems like every deadline has a domino effect: if one thing is late, it affects everything.

This year especially, I learned how important teamwork is. If somebody is in quarantine, we have to help them find a new way for them to accomplish their goals for the paper. We’ve all been through hard times, and we all need to rally around each other to produce the best paper we can. I have been an asset to staff by helping writers that have been quarantined, offering to help wherever and whenever I can, and getting everything done on time.

Journalism ethics are extremely important. I’ve learned time and time again how important it is to be objective while writing. From articles about the election and Black Lives Matter to those about COVID-19 and the Poland abortion bans, we need to be objective in our writing. Additionally, it is important for us to be truthful in our writing, especially with all of the misinformation about the pandemic that is currently in circulation.

I am incredibly dedicated to the CS Press. This newspaper is my home away from home, my family away from family. I do everything I can to help the rest of the staff out. For example, when the writers for my page were quarantined while working on the December issue of the paper, I reached out to them to see what they needed help with. Also, I volunteer myself to pick up any articles that need to be written or photos that need to be taken.

This semester, I faced burnout as my biggest hardship. For the first month of the semester, staring at my computer screen on zoom for the better part of my day gave me headaches and I always ended up exhausted by 12 in the afternoon, so I didn’t have much motivation to do the work for any of my classes. Then, after we came back in person, teachers loaded classes with homework to attempt to “make up” for the time spent online. This ultimately didn’t do anyone much good and caused me (and I’m sure others) to burn out quickly. Feeling burnt out has made it harder to complete assignments because it causes me to procrastinate a lot more. My biggest weakness that is publication-related is getting things in on time. Next semester, I am going to schedule things out better so I don’t feel burnt out, and can therefore get things done earlier because I’ll have more motivation to do them.

ESSAY 1

ESSAY 2

My best work this semester was “New shoes to fill.”

This piece was somewhat difficult to complete, but I enjoyed working on it a lot. Getting photos stressed me out a bit because there was only the one opportunity to get photos and I wanted to make sure they turned out well, but that went fine so I’ll be able to stress less about that in the future. I was also worried about being able to get all of my interviews since that can be challenging, but that went really well and I was even able to get two of them done ahead of schedule. I’m going to be completely honest, I had a bit of difficulty finding the motivation to start the writing process, but once I got started, it was smooth sailing. A lighter thing that happened while I was writing that caused me to run into some difficulty was, every day I wrote, I seemed to get a chromebook that had something wrong with it! Other than all of those, the piece was fun to work on and covered a topic I really enjoyed working on.

I started the piece with all of my research. While doing that, I was able to figure out what keywords I needed to Google to get the most relevant articles to populate first. I knew interviews would be a challenge, so I put a poll on my Instagram asking if there were people interested in the new Superintendent and if they would be willing to be interviewed. I was able to get both of my student interviews scheduled that way, and completed those. Then, I went on to the Queen Creek USD website to find Dr. Monroe’s contact information, and emailed him to schedule an interview. His assistant scheduled it with me (side note, I felt very important scheduling it that way haha :)) and interviewed him via Google Meets. After getting all of my interviews and research, I put the story together.

Then, for photos, I went to a Governing Board meeting and he (by pure chance) happened to be there, so I was able to get photos of him talking to Dr. Burdick. After getting all of the fundamental work done, I made the edits I needed to make. Finally, I polished it up on production day.

Overall, I’m very proud of the finished story and photo. I specifically like how my photo turned out. I’ve been getting more into photography and want to take more photos for the newspaper in my next two and a half years on the paper. I also really like my writing in it. I think I was able to give readers a good introduction to Dr. Monroe, which is always important when a transfer of power of that nature is happening. I really enjoyed covering the topic because district leadership has always interested me. It may be just because I’m a student, but there’s always been a bit of a “wall” around district leadership so I was excited to learn more about it through this.

ESSAY 3 I am really proud of my book review “Five Feet Apart worth the read.” I think it turned out really well, and that I’ve shown growth between my first book review and my most recent. I chose a timely book to talk about and was able to relate it to everyday life.

I also really like my photos for “Students rally in support of school reopening.” I used the elements of photography to take them, which helped them turn out as well as they did. It was certainly an interesting topic to cover!

I am proud of my opinion piece, “Renaming religious holidays convolutes meaning.” The first time I wrote an opinion piece on religion was in March, and I had to rewrite the story.

This time, however, there were fewer edits that needed to be made and the piece came out a lot better.

I am proud of my opinion piece, “Renaming religious holidays convolutes meaning.� The first time I wrote an opinion piece on religion was in March, and I had to rewrite the story. This time, however, there were fewer edits that needed to be made and the piece came out a lot better.

Working with the online paper vs. the print edition are two very different experiences, especially because they each use completely different software to run. Making the switch from online to print was challenging, but I learned a lot along the way.

I personally think that an even mix of being respected and being popular is the most important. One time I had to yell at the class and I think I scared most of them, even the returning staffers. I ran into a new writer in the bathroom once and I smiled at her and she left pretty quickly, so I think they might be a bit afraid of me but I am always kind to them, and I hope they know they can come talk to me about anything and I’ll be there to listen and offer whatever advice I can.

I like being a leader because I’ve always enjoyed taking the leadership role. In group projects, I’ve always naturally been the leader and delegated tasks, and in clubs, I always volunteered for any leadership role available. It isn’t without its faults, though. I always worry that other people who wanted the position I got will be jealous of me because that has happened in the past. I also know that not getting a job you really want can be really disappointing, so I try to always make sure there aren’t any hard feelings with the way things go.

I think the leader wolf is the least in the pack because they drive everyone forward. This applies to being an editor because we teach the staff, help them, edit their stories, put the pages together, and ultimately create the whole paper. We are the backbone of the paper in that we help with everything.

ESSAY 4