Maddie Rimmer

Fall 2018 J1 Student

United States

Journalism has always been interesting to me, but the main reason I took J1 was to improve my non-biased writing skills. I am pretty good at argumentative writing and opinionated pieces but I wanted to develop a more formal style that I could use for college, work, etc.
I not only learned how to write in a formal , AP standard style, but also how journalism is present in a lot more things than just publications. The skills I've developed have really helped my writing be more factual and precise - it has taught me how to not ramble and say exactly what I need to.
I hope to join newspaper next year, assuming my schedule works out, because I love the columns and topics of newspaper publications.
I enjoyed almost all of the assignments because they required me to go out of my comfort zone and write concisely. Designing is my favorite so the infographic was one of the most interesting projects to me.
The only thing I would improve about this class is adding more creative ways to learn the basics of journalism (leads, 1st amendment rights, captions ,etc.).

Portfolio

Writing

Google Docs
12/13/2018
Leads, Hacker Story, Using Quotes, &Headlines

The Leads assignment asked us to write leads given the facts/background of certain stories. I liked this assignment because it taught me how to write leads based on which aspect was most important. I think it's very important to be able to write concisely and to the point. For the hacker story, we were given the evidence and background for a story about a BV hack. I had mixed emotions about this project because it taught me how to write a story properly, but it was really difficult to get...

J1
12/14/2018
1 in 1600 News Story & Design

The 1 in 1600 News Story and Design assignment asked us to create a story and audio-accompanied slideshow about one student at BV who we are interested in or admire. I absolutely loved this project because it produced something I'm really proud of; I felt like this project showed us the power and creative side of journalism, along with the profound effects audio can have on an audience (if done well). The photos are really high quality and I think they look great together; my article tells a...

J1
12/14/2018
News Story and Design

The news story and design assignment asked us to interview and report on a current event relating to Blue Valley's students, activities, issues. I loved this assignment because it was one of the first stories we wrote and I thought it was so interesting to watch it go from an audio tape to transcription to a formal story. My story had a lot of good, in-detail quotes that gave the reader a really good idea about whether they'd be interested in BV Business clubs and a general idea about...

Photography

Google Docs
12/17/2018
iPhone Photo Shoot

The iPhone photoshop project asked us to take photos on our phones using different photography approaches. I thought this assignment was fun because we got to experiment and problem solve how to get certain angles - the photos turned out pretty cool too considering they came from low quality cameras.

Google Docs
12/17/2018
Photoshop

The photoshop assignment asked us to use the basic tools of photoshop in order to make pictures more clear, focused, color corrected, and visually appealing. I liked this assignment because I didn't have a lot of previous experience with the program and needed to learn how to use it for basic editing skills.

Design

J1
12/17/2018
Infographic

The infographic project asked us to design an infographic on the topic of our choice, complete with a teaser and teller. This was my favorite project because I love designing; I designed all of my infographic in adobe illustrator. My topic was the "most extreme" colleges around the country, and I found it to be so much fun to be able to choose my own topic and make the project really my own.

Google Docs
12/17/2018
Pathfinder, Typography, Dissecting Typography & Design

The pathfinder project asked us to create certain symbols that could be used in basic design. I liked this assignment because the design aspect of journalism is really important to me since it attracts those who aren't as content oriented. I think it was a good "basics" sort of project for us to start designing with. The typography project asked us to design a poster, an illustration of a word using its letters, and an advertisement. I loved this project because typography is something you...

J1
12/17/2018
Pancake Perfection

The Pancake Perfection project asked us to design and lay out an article with photos, text, and a recipe. I liked this project because it was neat to see the final product of our instructions - it was also helpful to learn the basics of indesign so we could design future stories as well.

Journalism Basics

Google Docs
12/13/2018
First Amendment Follow Up, Law & Ethics, First Amendment Follow-Up, & Shattered Glass

The First Amendment Follow Up assignment had us evaluate our believes about the first amendment. I really enjoyed this project because the first amendment is so important and analyzing how it affects us in our daily lives helps to put it in perspective - it is incredibly intermingled with most things we do. The Law & Ethics assignment asked us to complete a module dealing with making ethical decisions and scenarios regarding their extent. I didn't enjoy this project simply because it...