CAROLINE COLEMAN

733 Euclid AvenueOrlando, FL 32801

cgc1200@cfl.rr.com(407) 922-9033

May 27, 2011

Renee BurkePublications AdviserBoone High School2000 S. Mills AvenueOrlando, FL 32806

Dear Ms. Burke,

I would like to express my interest in an editor position for the Boone High School Legend yearbook staff. I believe that my experience on staff during the 2010-2011 year, general knowledge of sports and strong work ethic would provide great benefit for the 2011-2012 sports editor.

As a general staffer of the Legend yearbook staff last year, I worked on multiple sports spreads, in-cluding boys swimming, girls soccer, and boys volleyball. Aside from enjoying the process, I covered the stories with interesting angles and in-depth coverage while cooperating with fellow staffers. My extensive experience with sports stories would greatly benefit me as the sports editor.

My position as a staffer and education experience in the eleventh grade have both cultivated my talents as a sports writer. Even though I didn’t have any previous experience with journalism before joining staff, I was able to learn the yearbook process quickly by observing others and asking for advice from editors. As a fast learner and effective problem solver, I was able to create satisfactory sports spreads and also help others with their assignments. In addition to my experience on staff, I also participated in the Advanced Placement Language and Composition course; this class improved my writing skills and taught me to recognize appropriate writing styles and how to apply them. My experiences in journalism and language, along with necessary qualities such as responsibility, dedica-tion and creativity, would assist me as the Legend yearbook sports editor.

Thank you for your consideration of my participation in the 2011-2012 Legend yearbook staff as the sports editor. Enclosed is my personal resume, but I feel a personal interview will better reflect my abilities for this position. At your earliest convenience, I would appreciate a meeting to discuss your publication and this position. Thank you again and hope to hear from you soon.

Respectfully yours,

Caroline Coleman

Enclosed: resumé

CAROLINE COLEMAN

733 Euclid AvenueOrlando, FL 32801

cgc1200@cfl.rr.com(407) 922-9033

OBJECTIVETo design creative and exciting sports pages for the Legend yearbook, direct and assist staffers in their development of sports coverage and shoot sports events as sports editor.

EDUCATIONCompleted three years at Boone High School.Graduation date: May 2012.G.P.A.: 4.95, Top 1% of class.

EXPERIENCELegend Yearbook Staff Member, Boone High School -Aug. 2010 - present. Composed and edited student life, sports, and academic yearbook spreads.

RELEVANT HIGH SCHOOL STUDIESAdvanced Placement Language and Composition; Writing Center; Math Center; Varsity tennis team; Varsity cross country team; Varsity track team; Tutoring; Mu Alpha Theta; National Honor Society

HONORS, AWARDS, AND MEMBERSHIPS -Orlando Sentinel Classroom Star of the Week — March 11, 2010 Award given weekly to a student athlete showing excellence in academics, sports, and extra curricular activities in the Central Florida area. -Orlando Titans High School Hero — March 20, 2010 Based on academic, athletic and volunteer curriculum, the Orlando Titans of the National Lacrosse League choose a Central Floridian High School Hero to participate in the honorary “ball drop” at the beginning of the game. -Boone High School Influential Student Award — 2010 -Metro Conference Cross Country Team — 2010, 2011 -Metro Conference All-Academic Cross Country Athlete — 2010, 2011 -Varsity Cross Country MVP — 2011 -Mu Alpha Theta Treasurer, 2011-present

REFERENCESVictoria Nicoll; AP Language and Composition teacher and Writing Center adviser; victoria.nicoll@ocps.netPaul Katauskas; Boone cross country coach; paul.katauskas@ocps.netLisa Speer; Boone tennis coach; lisa.speer@ocps.netDr. Teresa Tachon; Mu Alpha Theta and Math Club adviser; teresa.tachon@ocps.net

I finally joined the yearbook my junior year and I’m so glad I did. Sophomore year, I

applied and was accepted onto the Legend yearbook staff, but got scared with the summer

advertisement sales and thought I wouldn’t be able to handle all of the work. At the end of

sophomore year, two of my friends, Carly Burton and Sehar Noor, decided they were joining

publications, so I decided to give it another try. I reapplied, re-interviewed and was reaccept-

ed, and I decided to stick with it this time.

Dedication and quick learning were necessary to my success in yearbook. At the begin-

ning of the year, we immediately began with story planning and choosing deadlines, so there

wasn’t much extra time to get situated and learn a lot of the basics. Because of this, I had to

learn yearbook skills quickly, mostly during deadline as I worked on my stories. The amount

of work, or rather the time that went with the work, did prove to be a challenge, but hard work

and dedication helped me to succeed in yearbook and develop as a journalist.

My work in yearbook class has taught me a greater appreciation of journalism. After

putting countless hours into the yearbook, I now see how much work is behind every news

article or broadcast. Yearbook has also given me a new group of friends, especially since all

of the staff has grown close under the stress of deadline. While there were some rough spots,

I enjoyed the experience as a whole and am so glad I joined the Legend yearbook staff.

Coming into yearbook, I had no experience with journalism. While most of the students on

staff had taken Journalism 1 as a prerequisite, I didn’t have that luxury and lacked most of the basic

journalism skills. Despite this setback, I managed to learn both the basic and more advanced skills

related to publications, production, and time management and be a successful staffer on the Legend

staff.

This year, I’ve developed my production skills through yearbook class. Over the summer, I

learned how to sell ads for an organization, which taught me the importance of professional persua-

sion and presenting a sales package in an appealing way. Once the year started, I learned how to

use Adobe software such as InDesign and Photoshop, programs I had only been briefly introduced

to at camp. Another production skill I learned in class was process behind writing a yearbook story,

such as how to conduct interviews, contacts coaches and club sponsors professionally and write

informative articles.

In addition to developing actual production skills, I learned more about time management and

meeting deadlines in yearbook class. Skipping out on an assignment in yearbook is simply not an

option; no matter how many other things are going on, a staffer has an obligation to the book and

other staffers to complete their story. The rigorous deadlines involved in yearbook were hard to

keep up with, especially with a loaded academic and sports schedule, so I had to reach a new level

of efficiency to keep up with the work. This meant working both before and after school, during

lunch and during study hall, a time commitment I had never given to a class.

All of the skills I learned in yearbook class have prepared me to be a better staffer next year

and also provided important skills for college and the workplace. In such a technology-based soci-

ety, mastery of basic computer programs is imperative to hirability and success. Also, time manage-

ment and dedication to specific tasks are organizational skills that have and will continue to help

with all sorts of work, from school assignments to applying for colleges and other activities.

My most significant piece of the year was my coverage of the girls varsity soccer team.

My goal for the story was to discuss the team’s community service project, raising money

for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and their struggles as a young team after losing start-

ing seniors. The information about the team fund raising efforts proved difficult to find, since

the players knew almost nothing about the specifics and the coach was elusive with interview

requests, but eventually I found the facts. I also found that an accurate representation of the

season’s adversity was hard to get from the players; most of the girls had an overly optimistic

opinion of their performance and wouldn’t be honest about their subpar season.

The story began following these goals, describing first the fund raising efforts and later

transitioning into describing the season as a whole. As I worked on this draft, I made the

transition from these two events smoother with quotations by the players. In addition, I had to

remove quotes by Brandi Recker from the body copy because she was hit listed, which forced

some last-minute interviews to fill in those spaces. Pictures proved to be much more of a

challenge than the copy, though, especially since the games were at night and poorly lit. By

the finished product, I had learned how picture-challenged I was, but also the importance of

journalists finding the truth about their topic.

I really liked both the copy and pictures on this spread. The story truthfully told how

this was not the Lady Braves’ best season, but high-lighted how the young players found

unity as their season progressed. The pictures were action-packed and exciting, and the

dominant photo had my favorite lead in of the year, “Divine Intervention.” Overall, the story

was diverse, interesting and engaging, and proved to be my favorite work of the year.

My piece from this year that could use the most work is the special education story. I

feel that the body copy was impersonal and not very interesting, the pictures were boring and

the secondary coverage wasn’t arranged well.

The goal of the story was to talk about the new autism program that moved to Boone

from Colonial High School. To try to make the story personal, an autistic student was quoted

about the struggles he faced with autism and how the program has helped. When executed,

the story was bland -- autism’s qualities were explained and the new program was mentioned,

but there was no real personal focus because the quotes were made anonymous. Also, the

story was supposed to be about the entire special education program, but the only time other

parts of the program were addressed was briefly in the secondary coverage.

If I could make changes to this spread, I would pick a different focus for the body copy.

While the new autism program is relevant to this year, it is not very interesting and a different

angle would be more engaging for the reader. Another change I would make would be to take

more interesting pictures; all of the pictures are in the classroom, and more variety, such as

at jobs or in the lunchroom, would add appeal to the spread. Lastly, I would change the loca-

tion of the secondary coverage from the bottom, where it creates white space, to the top of the

cobs would point off the page.

Although this piece was not one of my best works, it taught me how important it is to

put all of your effort into every story, even if the subject isn’t your forté. Even if writers don’t

know a lot about their topics, it’s still possible to write a lovely story, and it’s important for

journalists to be versatile. Also, I learned it is important to not expect others to fix your page.

I expected my section editor or other editors to fix the secondary coverage, when I should

have instead confronted someone about changing it.

I’m most proud of this picture because of its unique setting and its many elements of

good composition. I took this picture at a swim practice using the underwater camera bag and

this allowed a unique setting that sets it apart from other pictures. The subject’s, Alex Ha-

vens’s, face is in the left third of the photograph, following the rule of thirds, and the edge of

the pool and Havens’s body serve as leading lines. The top of the water and pool steps also

help to frame the picture. The refraction of light onto Havens through the water adds more

detail and depth to the picture.

This photo was printed on the boys swim spread and is located at: boys swim practice

10-29_caroline110.

Even though I was only a staffer this year, I was still an asset to the yearbook staff and

the 2011 edition of the Legend yearbook. First, I put forth full effort in all of the spreads I was

assigned. I find mediocracy annoying, so I strove to perfect all of my stories, from pursuing

the most interesting story angle to choosing the most dynamic pictures for the spread. This

full effort included putting time in extra time outside of yearbook class, such as going to dif-

ferent sports games and practices to get a full feel for the season. In addition to my own

stories, I tried to help others with their spreads also. This involved conducting interviews,

taking pictures and helping others with writing body copy. I especially helped with some of

the sports I’m involved in, like tennis, and with developing and editing other stories, like the

student pilot story. All of these instances are examples of how I did my best to be an asset to

the 2011 Legend yearbook staff.

This year, I’ve had to deal with a bunch of problems in yearbook, from finding the time

to get everything done to trusting partners to get their part of the spread done, but I’ve been

able to resolve and learn from them. One of my biggest struggles was fitting yearbook into my

schedule. From practice to meets, matches, and homework, yearbook was always competing

with my other activities in sports and school, so it took a lot of pre-planning and organization

to make sure everything got done. I also had to make sacrifices in order to be successful at

yearbook, such as skipping practice and running on my own at night or skipping workdays

so I could compete on Saturday mornings. The intricate balance of activities has taught me

greater time management skills so I can fit everything in and communication skills so my

coaches or adviser knew where I was and when I would complete my assignment.

Another problem I faced this year was trusting a partner enough to share an assignment

with them. I’ve always been a bit of a perfectionist, so group projects have always bothered

me because I can’t be totally sure that every part has been completed to my standards. In

yearbook, many of the stories are shared between two staffers, and one of my biggest chal-

lenges this year has been accepting someone else’s help in a project. What yearbook has

taught me is that an individual must be trusted with their task, but kept in close contact so you

can provide help if the job isn’t getting done. In school and in the real world, group project

situations exist, and it’s important to be able to distribute authority and to trust your partner’s

abilities to do a good job.

My greatness publications-related weakness is my picture taking ability. By the mid-

term evaluation, I had covered Senior privileges, boys swimming, special education and girls

varsity soccer, and I felt that my photo skills were the most lacking in all of these spreads.

The worst instances were in girls soccer: it took me two games to figure out how to make the

players be in focus. In the second semester, I improved my photo skills marginally, but they

still need a lot of work, especially in sports photography. One of my stories following the

mid-term evaluation was Brave Aid, and the photographs from that event turned out alright

because I figured out how to adjust settings like exposure and shutter speed to make pictures

clear and bright. That was the only event I shot at following the evaluation, since deadline 6

was just a cob and my partner shot for deadline 7. Because of this, my photo skills are still

in need of work as one of my yearbook weaknesses, but have improved since the mid-term

evaluation.

Entry 1: Y30. Sports spread: One spread, Boys Drown Eagles, pages 130-131

I would like for this piece to represent me because the story was my most exciting body

copy of the year. The story jumps right into the meet against the team’s rival, Edgewater, and

describes how the meet results came down to the last race. This exciting story is compliment-

ed by adequate pictures and interesting secondary coverage. Overall, this was one of my best

spreads for the year and I think it is a good representation of my capabilities as a journalist.

Entry 2: Y30. Sports spread: One spread, Throw the Pink Card, pages 146-147

I would like for this piece to represent me because of the dynamic style of the story and

exciting pictures. The story discussed the team’s growth in a rebuilding year -- many of their

starting seniors had left so they had a subpar season. The story was still positive despite

their mediocre season, high-lighting their team chemistry and goals for next year. The pic-

tures are all very good on this spread too, full of action and depth. For these reasons, I would

like this piece to represent my journalism skills.

Entry 3: Y15. Sports action photo, Boys Drown Eagles, page 131

I would like for this picture to represent me because of its interesting nature and excel-

lent photo qualities. First, I really like this picture because it is underwater, a unique setting

for most sports photographs. Even though it’s underwater, the picture is still very clear and

there are no bubbles blocking the subject’s face. In addition to its intrigue, the picture also

contains good photographic elements, such as leading lines, framing and depth of field. Over-

all, I believe this picture is one of my best of the year and should represent my photography.