Editing
As the solo Editor-in-Chief, it is my job to edit every story, caption, and spread in the book. This takes up a great amount of my time throughout the day and has significantly improved my personal writing skills. I have face to face meetings with all of my staff members when editing stories and spreads, that way I can be there to answer any questions that they might have.
I am a Creator Story
For this story, I had many things to discuss with the writer. I met with her in person and we looked through her story together. One of the biggest issues we faced was a lack of an angle. With this in mind, I asked her these questions: “Why is this lab important?”, “What does a reader gain from this that he or she doesn’t already know?”, “What sets this apart from any other lab?”, “Will this lab matter in 10 or more years?” She struggled with providing me answers, so I decided that she might thrive better with an alternative storytelling format. I also decided it would be best for our academic section as a whole, due to several classes being combined on a spread. After we got the format figured out, we had some other problem areas to discuss. We talked about how the story must be written in past tense, how after their first induction students are referred to by their last name, and how to place periods when dealing with quotes. Here is the final story:
|
Story By Jami Chancellor
In the Vet Science classroom, junior Ariana Rivera learned how to take care of an animal and everything she needed to know to pursue a possible career as a veterinarian.
“We experiment with new animals, whether it be checking what’s inside of them or experiencing new things,” Rivera said. “We get new animals with different diseases.”
On the Mend
All around Debbie Davis’ medical terminology classroom, different anatomical figures, skeletons, and medical tools were found. Junior Emma Kaunitz enjoyed entering her third hour class.
“I’ve always really enjoyed different physical activities and learning about muscles and bones,” Kaunitz said. She wished to pursue a career in physical therapy.
Down to Business
Students sat around the classroom, focused on their work as the scent of an air freshener filled the air of Laurie Jenning’s sixth period marketing class. Sophomore Tregan Holterman stepped into his favorite class of the day, sat in his rolly chair, and got to work.
“I love this class,” Holterman said. “We experiment with different business tactics, go over different types of marketing, new ways you can implement marketing into business.”
On a Limb
Junior Grayson Farris knew all about the growing and replanting process, as he practiced it in his plant science class. But plant science wasn’t the only agriculture class for him, as Farris aspired to take every ag class that was offered.
Farris had taken animal science, beef science, veterinary science, and equine science, and he hoped to take more
“When I grow up, I want to go to vet school,” Farris said, “I want to be a vet, take every single class Har-Ber has for agriculture. They [his teachers] open up your eyes. They want to show you both sides and experiment what your thought is behind it.”
In my Element
Multiple elements waited to be tested as juniors Chloe Robinson and Emmye Baker, and sophomore Lacy Stephens entered their second period Chemistry class. The girls partnered together to test different elements’ characteristics.
“I want to go into the medical field, which you have to be really good at science,” Baker said.
In the Vet Science classroom, junior Ariana Rivera learned how to take care of an animal and everything she needed to know to pursue a possible career as a veterinarian.
“We experiment with new animals, whether it be checking what’s inside of them or experiencing new things,” Rivera said. “We get new animals with different diseases.”
On the Mend
All around Debbie Davis’ medical terminology classroom, different anatomical figures, skeletons, and medical tools were found. Junior Emma Kaunitz enjoyed entering her third hour class.
“I’ve always really enjoyed different physical activities and learning about muscles and bones,” Kaunitz said. She wished to pursue a career in physical therapy.
Down to Business
Students sat around the classroom, focused on their work as the scent of an air freshener filled the air of Laurie Jenning’s sixth period marketing class. Sophomore Tregan Holterman stepped into his favorite class of the day, sat in his rolly chair, and got to work.
“I love this class,” Holterman said. “We experiment with different business tactics, go over different types of marketing, new ways you can implement marketing into business.”
On a Limb
Junior Grayson Farris knew all about the growing and replanting process, as he practiced it in his plant science class. But plant science wasn’t the only agriculture class for him, as Farris aspired to take every ag class that was offered.
Farris had taken animal science, beef science, veterinary science, and equine science, and he hoped to take more
“When I grow up, I want to go to vet school,” Farris said, “I want to be a vet, take every single class Har-Ber has for agriculture. They [his teachers] open up your eyes. They want to show you both sides and experiment what your thought is behind it.”
In my Element
Multiple elements waited to be tested as juniors Chloe Robinson and Emmye Baker, and sophomore Lacy Stephens entered their second period Chemistry class. The girls partnered together to test different elements’ characteristics.
“I want to go into the medical field, which you have to be really good at science,” Baker said.
Gamers For Life Story
After the discussion about developing an angle, I explained the importance of capturing a diverse group of students. Not only was she missing out on sophomores who play games, but also females. We also struggled with identifying where paragraph breaks needed to go. Her work hinted that she struggles with facts vs opinions, so we discussed the importance of being able to tell the two apart. She also wrote in first person, so I addressed with her that it has to be in third person.
|
Story by Jaimee Hurless
Seeing the Magic-The Gathering cards from across the table in a plastic card holder, the colors and artwork grabbed senior Devin Eastres’ attention from the start. The plastic sleeves showcased them as if they were trophies.
“It's the world's most complicated game. It’s difficult in knowing how it all works together,” Eastres said, “but I play Overwatch, D&D, Halo, Call of Duty, all the basics.”
The desire to figure out the game pushed him to continue. Once he learned the ins and outs of the game, the story pulled him in.
“If I’m having fun and enjoy the story, I’ll play it. Some of them are basic in the action. Call of Duty is a more realistic style where people can compare it to events happening in the real world,” he said. “In a game like Portal, you are a test subject just doing puzzles. A girl is trapped in an abandoned laboratory held captive by a robot. You get promised things, like cake, and eventually you actually meet the robot. Upon meeting, the robot releases you because she realizes that you aren’t as bad as she thought.”
While a good plot may have grabbed the gamer’s interest, the realistic graphics sucked them into the action-packed world.
“Whenever I play Battlefront, I feel like Anakin. It’s like zzwoom,” senior Hunter Wood said. Wood played the action shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise as well as Madden NFL 20.
Whether it was a pick-six in Madden or pretending to be a character in Star Wars, gamers spent hours devoted to winning.
“When you are with your friends, it’s competitive. It develops your problem-solving skills,” DeJuan Williamson, a sophomore, who plays Fortnite, Madden NFL 20 and NBA 2K, said. “It helps you learn real life skills such as reading comprehension skills. I probably play 7-8 hours on a Saturday. You want to beat the game or your opponent, so you keep playing until you win. If you die, you keep going. It makes you want to come back more and more because you’re afraid to lose. Losing makes me mad.”
The competitions and friendships also provided gamers a break from life.
“It keeps my mind functioning instead of worrying about things. I can just take a break and just escape for a minute,” Eastres said.
Gamers immersed themselves into the atmosphere and found themselves developing an attachment to the characters.
“That's kinda what makes you wanna keep playing,” junior Caleb Laney said. “I could play a game and stop thinking about everything else. It's an escape from life, school, stress, parents, and all that type of stuff. If I didn’t have games, I wouldn’t have some of the friends that I have now.”
Gaming has brought many of these players together, and together they became quite the community.
“It’s just easier to bond with people through gaming,” senior Kyle Buchan said, “because chances are you’ll have a lot of things in common if you’re playing the same game.”
Seeing the Magic-The Gathering cards from across the table in a plastic card holder, the colors and artwork grabbed senior Devin Eastres’ attention from the start. The plastic sleeves showcased them as if they were trophies.
“It's the world's most complicated game. It’s difficult in knowing how it all works together,” Eastres said, “but I play Overwatch, D&D, Halo, Call of Duty, all the basics.”
The desire to figure out the game pushed him to continue. Once he learned the ins and outs of the game, the story pulled him in.
“If I’m having fun and enjoy the story, I’ll play it. Some of them are basic in the action. Call of Duty is a more realistic style where people can compare it to events happening in the real world,” he said. “In a game like Portal, you are a test subject just doing puzzles. A girl is trapped in an abandoned laboratory held captive by a robot. You get promised things, like cake, and eventually you actually meet the robot. Upon meeting, the robot releases you because she realizes that you aren’t as bad as she thought.”
While a good plot may have grabbed the gamer’s interest, the realistic graphics sucked them into the action-packed world.
“Whenever I play Battlefront, I feel like Anakin. It’s like zzwoom,” senior Hunter Wood said. Wood played the action shooter video game based on the Star Wars film franchise as well as Madden NFL 20.
Whether it was a pick-six in Madden or pretending to be a character in Star Wars, gamers spent hours devoted to winning.
“When you are with your friends, it’s competitive. It develops your problem-solving skills,” DeJuan Williamson, a sophomore, who plays Fortnite, Madden NFL 20 and NBA 2K, said. “It helps you learn real life skills such as reading comprehension skills. I probably play 7-8 hours on a Saturday. You want to beat the game or your opponent, so you keep playing until you win. If you die, you keep going. It makes you want to come back more and more because you’re afraid to lose. Losing makes me mad.”
The competitions and friendships also provided gamers a break from life.
“It keeps my mind functioning instead of worrying about things. I can just take a break and just escape for a minute,” Eastres said.
Gamers immersed themselves into the atmosphere and found themselves developing an attachment to the characters.
“That's kinda what makes you wanna keep playing,” junior Caleb Laney said. “I could play a game and stop thinking about everything else. It's an escape from life, school, stress, parents, and all that type of stuff. If I didn’t have games, I wouldn’t have some of the friends that I have now.”
Gaming has brought many of these players together, and together they became quite the community.
“It’s just easier to bond with people through gaming,” senior Kyle Buchan said, “because chances are you’ll have a lot of things in common if you’re playing the same game.”
Last of the Faithful Few Story
With this story, I realized we need to go over the basics. As we discussed her story, I pulled plenty of examples for us to go over together so that she could fully understand the format. I told her that she should start with a moment, then lead into a quote and nut graph. After that, it is basically a quote with commentary repeated several times. Just like in the previous story, this writer struggled with developing an angle and basic writing rules such as tense and grammer. After a few more rounds of editing, we were able to produce this in our yearbook:
|
Story by Jaimee Hurless
Playing the guitar with his youth group, senior Samuel Wilson doesn’t feel nervous. He’s been playing in front of a crowd since the sixth grade.
“I express my faith through music,” he said. “It’s how I talk to God, how I relate to other people.”
Wilson plays the cajon at church but is also passionate about writing and playing the guitar.
“Music is in many ways ‘me,’ parts of me,” he said, “how I feel and what I believe in.”
Expressions of faith showed ways students lived through Christ. Being a Christian was not only a religion but could also be a way of life.
“My goal is that in every way I act and every way I speak, his love, his joy, and his peace is brought back into everything I do,” junior Allie Wilson said.
Being involved in Youth for Christ, Young Life, or Project 7 provided outlets for students like Samuel and Allie to live out their faith in action and gave them purpose.
“The preacher was talking about how everyone sins and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it,” Allie said. “Without God there would be no purpose in life. Now I have a purpose in my life, and I’m pleasing the one who created me and the one who loves me everlastingly.”
Faith has caused many people to turn their lives around. It can be a defining moment. However, asking questions could lead to a stronger relationship with God and allow you to learn more.
“Read the word of God,” sophomore Abbie Goff said, “just talk to him, and he’ll show you things that you need to do through his work.”
Playing the guitar with his youth group, senior Samuel Wilson doesn’t feel nervous. He’s been playing in front of a crowd since the sixth grade.
“I express my faith through music,” he said. “It’s how I talk to God, how I relate to other people.”
Wilson plays the cajon at church but is also passionate about writing and playing the guitar.
“Music is in many ways ‘me,’ parts of me,” he said, “how I feel and what I believe in.”
Expressions of faith showed ways students lived through Christ. Being a Christian was not only a religion but could also be a way of life.
“My goal is that in every way I act and every way I speak, his love, his joy, and his peace is brought back into everything I do,” junior Allie Wilson said.
Being involved in Youth for Christ, Young Life, or Project 7 provided outlets for students like Samuel and Allie to live out their faith in action and gave them purpose.
“The preacher was talking about how everyone sins and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it,” Allie said. “Without God there would be no purpose in life. Now I have a purpose in my life, and I’m pleasing the one who created me and the one who loves me everlastingly.”
Faith has caused many people to turn their lives around. It can be a defining moment. However, asking questions could lead to a stronger relationship with God and allow you to learn more.
“Read the word of God,” sophomore Abbie Goff said, “just talk to him, and he’ll show you things that you need to do through his work.”
Spreads
When editing spreads, I check for the basics first: eyeline, headline, and the quality of pictures. Then I turn to secondary information: caption width and story packaging. Of course, I consider the usage of negative space and whether or not it incorporates our theme elements.
Volleyball Spread
I did little to edit this volleyball spread. We started by working on a headline and plugging in the right story. We then decided that the vertical photos needed a mini headline. We discussed how if any photo overlaps another in this book, we add a white one-point stroke around the picture on top to give it a cleaner look. I made sure our folio was placed correctly. Then we discussed the area left to the dominant. Was it enough for secondary coverage? As it was one of our goals this year to make sure every page has some type of secondary cover, I was determined to make a mod work.
Before:
After:
Cheer Spread
The cheer page was a very simple page and had the potential to stay at a very basic level if I didn’t meet with the designer. My first question to him was “What makes this page unique?”. When he couldn’t come up with an answer, I let him know he did a very good job about using our theme elements, and he didn’t do anything absolutely crazy. But it was just a typical spread, and he had given me a few typical spreads now. I informed him we needed to do something different. We want this page to contain the common theme elements of every other page but also to be special at the same time. I informed him that he now knew the basics enough that he could start breaking some rules for the sake of the design. That is how we came up with the pompom being the “o” in strong. Just that simple adjustment allowed for the spread to transform.
Before:
After:
What's In Your... Spread
The “what is in your…” spread was quite the awkward spread. At first, I was weary of not only the concept, but also the design. I knew that it would need a lot of work, but my staff and I had the potential to execute this spread proficiently. For this reason, I presented it to Jim Jordan when he stopped at my school for a visit. Editing this spread with Jim improved my editing skills for design as well as my design process as a whole. Our first step was applying the book’s three main colors: yellow, blue, and coral. Then, after I plugged in the photos and content, we played around with the headline. We knew it would have to stand out since the rest of the page followed a simple design. We changed the font size and picked a new word to be the center point. Jim told me that I had to include a secondary headline, so we toyed around with what people do with their stuff, since that is what this spread is about. I decided it would be cool to use verbs: you cram, force, and push your stuff into different places. Just these minor adjustments changed the complete outlook of the page. Editing this page with Jim taught me to have more faith in some of the spreads that might seem hopeless because even simple design tricks can completely transform a spread.