design editor | grand blanc high school | class of 2017
leadership
kolor run
Of all of the honors I've been awarded in my lifetime, I can definitely say that co-captaining our Kolor Run fundraiser in 2015 was one of the most prestigious. Not only did this mean that I was responsible, but that someone trusted me to guide a group of 20 kids, both older and younger than me, to do our jobs and have fun while doing it. Mission accomplished.
chicago 2016 workshop
Whether it was navigating our way around the hotel, to the Starbucks around the corner or to LUSH on Michigan Ave., you could always count on me to be at the front of the pack. I know Chicago like the back of my hand, so when I realized how many people going to this workshop needed to use google maps to get around, I stepped up and served as a human GPS for a majority of the time we were out roaming the town. Being a leader in its literal sense in Chicago gave me the most pride in the entire world. Being able to show everyone around to my favorite parts of the city with ease earned me the responsibility of planning out each of our days, checking in with everyone else every few hours, hailing taxis, and calling to make reservations for dinner while everyone else was shopping. It may not have been the easiest or most fun responsibility during the weekend getaway, but it gave me the well deserved title "Chicago Mom" for a few weeks.
jea/nspa convention 2016
The JEA/NSPA Convention in November 2016 was another Yearbook travel destination when my parents' introducing me to many different places as a child came in handy. I was the only student in our group of seven who had ever been to Indianapolis and before. I had a fairly refined memory of the Indianapolis Convention Center, soI took this opportunity to, again, be the leader of the pack wherever we went in our downtime. By the end of the weekend, I was reliving my Chicago Mom glory days. Planning out days based on everyone's session schedules, figuring out how far breakfast or dinner was from the hotel, and setting up our wake up calls, were all parts of my daily responsibilities while everyone else was getting ready or in their sessions. By this time, "Indy Mom" had a nice ring to it.
club photo day
Contrary to popular belief, Club Photo Day at GBHS does not happen by magic and sheer luck. It is the result of weeks of prioritizing, planning, setting up and double-checking. I learned this through first hand experience, when I, with the help of Sarah, our photo quality editor, planned the day in all of its glory. It was by diligence, discipline, and compulsive organization that we were able to photograph every single club at the school in under three hours. Maybe a little bit of magic.
staff t-shirts 2017
It didn't take long, but it meant just as much as any other project. When the question of if we were getting staff t-shirts arose around Thanksgiving, I immediately knew that that was a job for me. It was always something I looked forward to, designing the staff t-shirts, and now it was finally here. With the help of one of our Editors-In-Chief Kayla, to recruit our shirt printer, one of our Marketing Editors Ellie for the phrasing, and the eyes of the entire staff approving my design, this project was nearly seamless. We have worn the shirts a handful of times since receiving them, and each time I can't help but think, "I made our staff look good."
"callings" mini mag 2017
head designer
Being Head Designer of the Echo staff is my most prestigious leadership role in my three years of Yearbook. If you would have told me three years ago that I would be head designer my senior year, I would have responded "Okay!" with a look of pure fear on my face. This role on the Echo staff has always been a job thats held in high regards due to its time consuming nature, reliance on deep thought and knowledge of all of the different parts of the editorial board. It is the one job that doesn't allow you to only do your designated job. Being Head Designer is all-inclusive and fast-paced. I've learned this in my past two years and first half of this year, with nonstop designing, theme planning, and more, all increasing in complexity as time went on. My projects have tested my endurance, patience and ability to lead a team of six other designers to success. My reliance on constant organization, consistency and communication has made this job my most prized title and something that will be hard for me to let go of. I hope to assume a position similar to this one in the future.
We ran with the "journal-y", handwritten, hyper-personal elements from that platform and as a result, I deconstructed and reconstructed a ladder based on availability of resources to pull this off without anyone's hair coming out in the process. I spent about four days, one of my Late Start mornings, breakfasts, lunches and good night's sleeps planning the logistics and workflow of incorporating mass amounts of scanned items and students' handwriting into this section of the book. Now that we have finished this section, I can proudly say that no one's hair was pulled out in the making of this mini mag.
