A Bit About Me
I am Gavin Murray, and I am a communications junior at Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. I specialize in Speech & Debate and Journalism, where I am the Morale Editor on the school newspaper: The Muse. This is my second year on The Muse, where I am a Content Team Editor for 2 photographers and 2 writers! Outside of school, I enjoy bike rides to the beach, watching movies, being with my girlfriend, and especially playing with the BEST dog ever Charlie. I love to learn about history, listen to podcasts, and meet new people!
Phone:
561-701-2691
Email:
My Time on The Muse
August 2025 - May 2026
Morale Editor
August 2024 - May 2025
Content Team Editor
August 2023 - May 2024
Writer
As the morale editor so far, I am in charge of boosting spirit on the magazine by organizing the banquet, classroom decorations, Team War Events, and also contributing to writing when I can.
I was selected as a Content Team Editor, where I led and edited for a team of two photographers and two writers in their pursuit of journalism. As an editor, I also created stories for the publication, notably I wrote the issue 2 editorial.
I joined The Muse my sophomore year of high school as a coverage staffer. Throughout my first year I wrote opinion, Alt Format, and informative stories—on the website and on the print issues—to help educate my school community.
My Reflection on Being a Student Journalist
The Muse
Out of everything I could have been, I never saw myself as a journalist. Maybe it was the fact that writing an article did not seem very interesting, or that other possible paths I could have taken looked more appealing. So maybe journalism found me?
Freshman year of high school I never read the \ print issue The Muse would pass out during lunch, much less manage to find my way on to their website. I am sure I would glance through it at the schools open house, or if I knew my friend was featured, but at that point, it was only paper and text. But it is so much more.
The next year, might I add spontaneously, I was now eligible to choose two tracks of communication, and I decided to join The Muse as a coverage staffer. I learned that being a journalist is more than just typing letters on to a Google Doc (ironic right?), and stories are more than just words gathered on a page. Journalism is a collaborative art form. From meeting with interviewees after their performance, and my pieces going through four cycles of editing before they are published, a story takes more work then what might be apparent to the naked-eye. My journalistic ability to dig deeper then what might be apparent; create comfortable environments with sources so they can willingly explain their viewpoints; and finally, being able to compile statitistics, sources, and humor to create a story for my student body are skills that I have learned since being on The Muse, but are lessons that apply far beyond typing on my computer. The skills that I have learned being a quality journalist have abundant uses throughout life. Willing to understand the minority viewpoints, asking informative questions, and staying curious, are all aspects The Muse has helped me expand upon.
But what makes a successful writer, if it is not someone who consistently makes mistakes, but not the same one twice. One instance where I learned from my mistake was during an interview for my story "Lip Sync or Swim". I had met with the interviewee and was importing her response on to a Google Doc, when I realized that my transcription app had not picked up all of her quote. This made it difficult when trying to depict what she said, but I did the best I could, and followed up with her. Note I now always check to ensure my transcription service is doing its job correctly!