Quill & Scroll: Spring 2016 Magazine

Quill & Scroll SPRING 2016

QUILL AND SCROLL 90TH ANNIVERSARY ECHOXTRA REUNION

1 • Quill THE & ScrollFUN • Spring 2016 EXPLORING EDUCATION RELISHING

DOW JONES NEWS FUND

NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM TEACHER OF THE YEAR 2016

APPLY NOW FOR THE 2016 TEACHER OF THE YEAR AWARDS

The Dow Jones News Fund will select one National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, four Distinguished Advisers and four Special Recognition Advisers based on their work during the 2015-2016 school year.

The winning teacher receives a plaque and a pin and addresses journalism educators and media professionals at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Spring Convention.

HOW TO APPLY Deadline July 9, 2016

We are seeking high school journalism teachers and media advisers with at least three years’ experience who have been honored as lifetime achievement, state or regional winners by local, state and regional groups.

Professional media and press associations are invited to forward candidates from their competitions.

Applications must be submitted online.

For forms and additional information, visit: dowjonesnewsfund.org

TEACHER OF THE YEAR BENEFITS: • A newsroom laptop computer • A column in Adviser Update • A district substitute teacher per diem • Free monthly Poynter Institute webinars • A digital subscription to The Wall Street Journal • A $1,000 scholarship for a senior DISTINGUISHED ADVISERS WILL WIN: • $500 scholarships for seniors • A free Poynter Institute webinar • A digital subscription to The Wall Street Journal Each Special Recognition Adviser receives a plaque and a digital subscription to The Wall Street Journal.

The Dow Jones News Fund Teacher of the Year Award is co-sponsored by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, The Wall Street Journal and The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

The 2015 Dow Jones News Fund Teacher of the Year award recipients at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Orlando, Fla. Clockwise from top left: Leland Mallett, Mitch Ziegler, DJNF managing director Linda Shockley, Sandra Coyer, Thomas Kaup, Rachel Rauch, 2015 Teacher of the Year Mitch Eden and Amanda Thorpe. Not pictured: Alena CybartPersenaire and Terry Cassreino. Photo by Bradley Wilson

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4 6 9 10 12 13 14 16 18

High S

Spring 2016

ts

IN THIS ISSUE

l Journalis o o ch

Question & Answer: Contest Winners Bailey Zaputil EchoXtra Reunion

Howard Spanogle

90th Anniversary

Quill & Scroll

Cover to Cover: Book Reviews Barbara Bealor Hines

CELEBRATING 90 YEARS IN 2016 Editor and Business Manager Vanessa Shelton

Executive Director, Quill and Scroll Society

Assistant Editor

Covering Public Protests Frank D. LoMonte

Mohammad Cheetany

Jwire Workshop Candace Perkins Bowen

Staff Contributor

Relishing The Fun Julie E. Dodd & Judy Robinson Journalism Summer Camp Mike Simons Exploring Education

About The Cover

This photograph by Macy Moon of St. Clair County High School in Odenville, Alabama was an Yearbook Excellence Award winner in the 2015 Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society Yearbook Excellence Contest. This photograph was taken for the Student Life Photo Division in category B. See the complete list of winners on the Quill and Scroll website at: http://quillandscroll.org/contests/ yearbook-excellence-contest where a sampling of winning entries in a CD PowerPoint presentation can be ordered.

Volume 90 - Issue 2

Mark Newton

Junior, University of Iowa

Bailey Zaputil

Sophomore, University of Iowa

Contributing Editors Julie E. Dodd

Professor, College of Journalism and Mass Communication The University of Florida, Gainesville

Bruce E. Konkle

Professor, College of Journalism University of South Carolina, Columbia

Book Editor

Barbara Bealor Hines

Professor Emeritus, Mass Communication and Media Studies, Howard University, Washington, D.C.

STAY UPDATED

quillandscroll.org @quillandscroll

Magazine of Quill and Scroll International 3 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016 quillandscrollsociety Honorary Society for High School Journalists

QUESTION & ANSWER:

AN INSIDE LOOK AT QUILL AND SCROLL WRITING AND PHOTO CONTEST AWARD WINNERS

By BAILEY ZAPUTIL

Sophomore, University of Iowa

For the International Writing and Photo Contest, Quill and Scroll interviewed two Sweepstakes winners about their respective awards and their processes in achieving success. Zachariah Chou of American Heritage School in Plantation, FL, won in News Feature Photography for his photo, “2014 Kaohsiung Gas Explosions”. Will Bolton of John Carroll High School in Bel Air, MD, won in Opinion Column for his column, “Bolton’s Bias: Team Spirit politics cripple nation”.

Q:

When did you first start to get involved with journalism and how?

I started my sophomore year, when I took my Intro to Journalism class at my school.

Because the regular class does recruiting, they come into the English classes and talk about it, and it sounded interesting. [Nick] Attanasio teaches the Intro class. When he was explaining journalistic writing, it was fascinating, because it is so different. And so I realized that this was just a different medium, a different way to express what I believe.

When we were talking about editorials, which is what I went on to write [for the 2015 Writing & Photo contest], I realized that it was an incredibly constructive way of expressing what I believe and the way that people would read it in an appropriate way, in a legitimate way, so it could actually have an impact. So it was pretty much by showing that I could matter, that my voice could make a difference.

Q:

What are some of the challenges and rewards of competing in the Writing and Photo contest?

The reward is definitely the fact that someone cares. People do care about your work, [but] papers and journalism is a ton of work for everyone involved. And so when you get a reward, when you get an acknowledgement, even past the scholarships or the

Q&A: Will Bolton Will Bolton of John Carroll High School in Bel Air, MD, won in Opinion Column for his column, “Bolton’s Bias: Team Spirit politics cripple nation”.

plaque, it’s just, you’re hard work has paid off and someone noticed.

The challenge is that it is incredibly competitive. When I wrote that column, I wasn’t setting out to win anything, because I don’t think that’s a healthy way to try to work, I mean, if you’re just doing it for awards. But the challenge is believing that someone will care, because that can definitely be frustrating when you’re writing and writing and no one’s taking notice.

Q:

Tell me about your Sweepstakes entry for the Writing and Photo Contest. Such as the process in making the entry, technical difficulties in creating it or publishing it, the event was made at or for, and the community response to it.

For that particular column, it was an extended metaphor about how the national political discourse turned into professional sports, specifically football. Because I know professional football pretty well. I think the hardest thing with writing about national politics like that column was, is coming up with something that hasn’t been done before.

I mean, bringing a new point of view, because it’s so picked over by so many people

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who are paid to professionally think about that stuff. It can be very hard to come up with a new angle, not just repeat stuff that’s already been on the New York Times or the Washington Post, or wherever. So that’s definitely the hard part for that. I think that because my school allowed me the flexibility and to be a football player and on The Patriot which are both huge time commitments, I think that was the reason I was able to write it, because I could have interests in such a varied field, that I could use something---football, which is very common, a lot of people know it--- to explain something which is a little less accessible, which is politics. Everyone reacted really well. It was by far the most praised about, and so I realized that if people liked it, then I should definitely submit it for review.

Q:

What is some advice you would like to impart on high school journalists?

Write stories that you are legitimately interested in. I don’t know how a lot of the grading works for other journalism programs, but don’t just pick up stories because you feel like you have to, or your Chief says, “hey, someone needs to write this”. Some of the stories are important, but when you’re writing about things you care about, it’s a whole lot more fun first of all, and you’re going to do a way better job.

CONTEST WINNERS Q:

Q&A: Zachariah Chou American Heritage School in Plantation, FL. He won in News Feature Photography for his photo, “2014 Kaohsiung Gas Explosions”.

did you first start Q: When to get involved with journalism and how?

I always sort of thought of joining my school newspaper from the time I first read it as a freshman. I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough space in my schedule to take the course and its prerequisite class, journalism, though. I finally succumbed to peer pressure my the end of sophomore year; my debate captain, who also happened to be in newspaper, finally convinced me to talk to our publications advisor about skipping journalism and going right into newspaper.

and rewards Q: challenges of competing in the WritWhat are some of the

ing and Photo contest?

I think the hardest part for the contest was finding something that had been published. I’m operating under the premises that in order to submit a photo, it had to be previously published. My greatest faults when it comes to contests with that sort of rule is that while I do take a lot of really good photos, a lot of them don’t get published.

For more information on the Writing, Photo, and Multimedia Contest visit:

quillandscroll.org

Tell me about your Sweepstakes entry for the Writing and Photo Contest. Such as the process in making the entry, technical difficulties in creating it or publishing it, the event was made at or for, and the community response to it.

The summer before junior year, I found myself in Taiwan. Both my parents are Taiwanese immigrants but I hadn’t visited since elementary school. There was a Red Cross program that involved training and serving with a Red Cross station in the city of Kaohsiung. If there was a journalist archetype I’d fit in, it’d probably be that of a conflict photographer: not only do I always have my camera at my side, but also a medical kit (in my camera bag).

Anyhow, I was one of 34 kids from around the world selected, and the program was pretty diddly darn awesome.

The 2014 Kaohsiung gas explosions occurred halfway through the two-week program. They woke the guys up in the middle of the night (very patriarchal, I know) and asked us to haul cases of water from the kitchen to trucks. It was a quick job, only taking maybe 10 minutes.

After, we surrounded the TV looking at live coverage of the unfolding disaster. To my knowledge, it was only couple of kilometers from where we slept; close enough for my friends to speculate having heard the explosions and enough for me swear to be able to see orange in the sky.

A ruptured gas line and subsequent explosion sent cars flying onto the tops of building and shut off water, gas, and electricity for tens of thousands of people. The new hub of supplies distribution to local centers? The Red Cross station, our home.

That really changed up the dynamics of the camp. From there on, the station was swarmed with volunteers from around the community and semi-trucks started rolling in with crates of water and other supplies. Even coach buses showed up, packed with boxes of batteries, shampoo, and dried noodles. This would go on for the rest of the week; whenever we saw a vehicle, we came to help unload it. Concurrently, we loaded other vehicles with supplies before sending them off to local shelters. We worked in shifts. There wasn’t a set time, really.

We just worked as long as we could until we tapped out or a supervisor saw how tired we were and relieved us. It was on break that I took photos, thousands and thousands of them.

The photo that won the sweepstakes award for News-Feature was taken standing on top of a pickup truck: a bird’s eye view of my friends and other volunteers loading it with water.

5 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

2014 Kaohsiung Gas Explosions. The 2014 Writing and Photo contest winner in the News Feature Photography division. The photo was taken in Taiwan by Zachariah Chou.

I remember being on break and wanting to get a bird’s eye view of that particular scene, so I climbed. I had been climbing lots of things up to that point: precariously stacked crates of water, emergency vehicles, etc. so at that point, no one really batted an eye when I hoisted myself on top of the truck.

I remember feeling the thin railing of the sides of the pickup bed through my shoes. I steadied myself, held my breath (for the lightning wasn’t good and I was counting on my lens’ vibration reduction to work miracles), and held down the shutter.

Q:

What is some advice you would like to impart on high school journalists?

[For photojournalists:] The best camera is the one at your side. At conventions, if you are privileged enough to attend one, you’ll have sessions that go all into the gear that you can’t afford and what not. At the same time, there will be those that say what I say to you: carry your camera everywhere. There’s also a prevailing sentiment that kit lenses suck. While that may be true, I don’t have the free flowing cash to get a prime wide-angle-whatever so I wouldn’t know. I took my award-winning photo with my kit lens simply it was the most appropriate focal length out of all the lenses I had.

ECHOXTRA REUNION THE HONOR: From the office to the world

BY HOWARD SPANOGLE

Retired adviser of Glenbard East (Lombard, Illinois.) Echo, 1967-1993. Assistant editor of Communication: Journalism Education Today, magazine for Journalism Education Association. A 1954-55 Quill and Scroll member in Altoona (Pennsylvania) High School — each member was required to write and perform a radio play every two months. At Glenbard East High School in Lombard, Illinois, Echo students received Quill and Scroll membership at a festive dinner.

A magic circle empowers a big globe.

That is what my Glenbard East Echo alumni, 1967-1993, discovered at the EchoXtra extravaganza on May 2, 2015, when the former high school journalists from all years and from coast to coast plus Manila joined forces to celebrate one giant, visionary Echo staff. They gathered appropriately at Cantigny on the McCormick Foundation estate, known for its journalism connections with the early 1900s history of the Chicago Tribune.

For the celebrants, the magic circle was the Quill and Scroll gold pin (now gold plated) that denotes an important Echo alumni accomplishment: academic success as a scholar and as a journalist. Wearing that same gold pin 25 years after receiving it in 1990, Chicago anesthesiologist Maunak Rana analyzed the journalism impact on his career — and on the globe.

“I have five minutes or so to get a patient at ease to have an operation,” said Rana, a pain management specialist who recognized the connection of journalism to his professional success.

“On the Echo, I had to cold call people.

They didn’t know who I was. No matter what you do in life, you need to work with people.”

Like Rana, who frequently flies to major cities to share his expertise in the medical field, many attendees spoke about how the Echo experience has empowered them to take their skills to the

Maunak Rana

Christine Zrinksky world. In Chicago, there were event committee planners: Chair Christine Zrinksky, 1982, Lincoln Park Zoo vice president of development; Pam Hutter, 1979, owner of Hutter Architects; Shezad Bandukwala, 1983, managing director, Investment Banking; Melissa Smart, 1993, attorney for the Illinois Supreme Court.

The reach of the magic circle goes far beyond Chicago. Consider the topics of the Headline Speaker trio: Echo and the Nation — Greg Jao, 1986, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, vice president of College Connections; Echo and the World — Jeff Jarvis, 1971, CUNY journalism professor, creator of Entertainment Weekly; Echo and the Universe — Dan Tani, 1979, a retired astronaut and vice president at Orbital ATK. The far-reaching connection of the newspaper office also shows up in careers throughout the United States.

At Cantigny, there were lawyers from Miami, Atlanta and Seattle; doctors from Chicago, Winfield and LaGrange, nurses from Iowa, Indiana and Washington; professors from Russia, Wisconsin and California; and educators from Detroit, Maryland and New Hampshire.

There also were scientists from St. Louis, Milwaukee and San Francisco; artists from Arizona, Illinois and New York; computer specialists from Austin, Houston and Minneapolis; business spe-

6 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

cialists from Cleveland, Indianapolis and New York City; and government workers from Indiana, Virginia and Washington, D.C. In addition, there were business executives with paid reservations who had to take care of emergencies in Phoenix, Mexico and Saudi Arabia. They were literally busy serving the world.

Freelance artist Julie Murphy, 1989, who worked in Los Angeles before returning to Chicago, discovered there is more to the world than high school, especially when she publicized the Echowritten Teenagers Themselves Trilogy on national TV shows: Charlie Rose and “Good Morning America.” Her world kept expanding from TV to art projects. “Every job I’ve ever had, no matter what it is, at some point someone comes up to me and says, ‘You write pretty well,’” said Murphy, who designed the conceptual EchoXtra 40-page memory book.

Former high school managing editors Rana and Murphy typify alumni who worked tirelessly as journalism leaders, whether the medium was newspaper, yearbook, magazine, TV or radio and whether the method was print or online.

The effort, the care, the diligence, and the precision continue to produce results in multiple careers from coast to coast.

These individuals also achieved results as students. Knowing the importance of deadlines counted in classrooms, too. As did research, preparation and thoughtful analysis — skills used to achieve as scholars. While in high school, they may have called it survival.

Julie Murphy

But their lives tell a different story. The Quill and Scroll trademark leads to success.

Alumni from a high school in an average middle class suburb made the case clearly as they shared their triumphs.

Their celebration sends a news bulletin to Quill and Scroll chapters throughout the nation: Schools with any profile — big, small, urban, rural, suburban, public, private — can recognize similar accomplishments and do the same.

They, too, can celebrate an all-years

alumni event with the goal of donating funds to an organization supporting high school journalists.

Because of its interaction with the Student Press Law Center since 1976, Echo alumni generated a $15,000 donation to SPLC. Their vision: How wonderful if hundreds of media programs could do the same for SPLC, for Quill and Scroll or for a local Freedom of the Press backer.

At Cantigny, others supported the journalism-career statement made by Rana’s gold pin. The banquet room

turned into a microcosm of what will happen when any diligent media staff reunites for a celebration of how journalism changed their lives. For sure, most will be leaders who have received the same Quill and Scroll pin as Rana did. They will be able to tell similar stories — successful careers made possible because they combined deadline know-how with academic pursuits to achieve accomplishments.

Speaker Spotlight

“

Greg Jao

In every generation of Echo staff, we faced a big story … students living in the building after hours; driver ed teachers using their curriculum time to run personal errands; teachers defrauding the school and students with claims of a false degree; administrators more concerned with managing appearances than with facing reality.

• 1986 (Echo and the Nation) • vice president of college connections and director of campus engagement, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, New York.

”“

One thing that we all learned was how to listen compassionately and with empathy to people whose life experiences differed from our own.

Jeff Jarvis

• 1971 (Echo and the World) • Professor, City University of New York.

• Started Entertainment Weekly.

“

What did we have there? We were trying to serve a community. We were trying to understand what the community’s needs were and what the stories were in the community. That was closer to the heart of journalism than … I was for years and years afterward, working in big, mass publications.

Dan Tani

I am hearing stories about how the Echo has served so well in continuing in careers in journalism and taking the legacy (to other professions).

As photographer, I learned my skill well in high school. … I was fortunate enough to take that skill with me (to the space station).

I decided that I was going to go into journalism. It was the inspiration that I received at Echo that opened up that door for me.

”

• 1979 (Echo and the Universe) • Former NASA astronaut • Senior director, Orbital ATK, Dulles, Virginia.

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”

ECHOXTRA REUNION

JOURNALISM ALUMNI SHARE CAREER INFLUENCE “At this reunion I have talked to people about how they are using the skills that they learned at the Echo … in their web design business, in their database business, in their anesthesiology practice. There are so many different applications for the skills that you learn as a journalist in high school.”

— Pat Bowlin, 1988, superfund project manager, EPA, San Francisco.

“I was actually a journalist and then went to law school and ended up a tax lawyer. People don’t see how those two really meet. But they do. I have to dig in and have to figure out how this puzzle works. It was the same way with putting together a story.”

— Diana Slyfield Doyle, 1984, tax partner, Latham & Watkins LLP, Chicago.

“You don’t just slap your first idea on the page and go with it. …

You try the second and third. You try to improve it. You try and make things work together. You get it right. Details matter. They have probably mattered in everything I have done.”

— Jeff Faust, 1981, president/video game developer, Faust Logic, Minneapolis.

“Echo taught us how to tell a story. … There was this commitment and passion … and we closed that deadline. It didn’t matter what it took, whether it took all night or how much rework on the copy … There was an energy because everyone was a team trying to make sure that happened.”

— Peter Hipolito, 1990, senior vice president, Citibank, Manila, Philippines.

“I use the things I learned in journalism every day as a lawyer.

When I ask questions and probe things and look deeper and conduct research. And when I pursue something in a manner to make sure it is exact and precise and is an uncompromised message.”

— Deborah Dance Johnson, 1974, Cobb County attorney, Georgia.

“High school journalism was a fabulous sort of platform to get started on that (career) journey because you got to touch a lot of different things.”

— Ryan McManus, 1990, global director of strategy consulting, New York.

“Back in 1972 … there weren’t a lot of female role models in power positions. Being the editor-in-chief … was important to me personally because it gave me a chance to see what I could do — show that I could lead a group.”

— Julie Kracke Schorfheide, 1972, freelance writer/editor, Washington, D.C.

Meet former Quill and Scroll members

Ever wonder what results journalism achieves? Take a look at YouTube videos produced by the EchoXtra 2015 participants. Participants, who began as Quill and Scroll members, explain how media education changed their lives and led to diverse careers. Preview what could happen to you or your students.

WATCH NOW ON Journalism Teaches Skills for Success

LINK: https://tinyurl.com/gptv47d

2015 Freedom Trilogy

VIDEO 1: https://tinyurl.com/o9a2nzr VIDEO 2: https://tinyurl.com/qerl4lw VIDEO 3: https://tinyurl.com/qerl4lw

WATCH ALL VIDEOS IN ONE CONVENIENT LINK AT:

http://quillandscroll.org/ archives/3207

ON facebook.com/echoxtra

8 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

IT’S STILL AN HONOR

A look into 90 years of Quill and Scroll

For 90 years Quill and Scroll has been honoring high school journalism advisers, students, and publications for their achievements in scholastic journalism. Quill and Scroll was organized April 10, 1926, and has worked to promote and provide resources to journalism programs within the United States and internationally. Ninety years later, it’s still an honor.

Check out some moments from Quill & Scroll magazine’s past.

University of Iowa Summer Journalism Workshops iowajournalism.com

July 24-28, 2016 Iowa City, Iowa @iowajournalism Advanced Graphic Design Culture Writing: Food, Fashion & Film Investigative Reporting

1940s. This Quill and Scroll logo was throughout the 1940s Quill & Scroll magazine. Through the years the Quill and Scroll logo has taken many forms.

1996. Graduation cords have been a prominent part of honoring graduating Quill and Scroll seniors. Twenty years later Quill and Scroll honors 1000s of seniors graduating.

Personal Writing: Columns, Blogs, Reviews Photojournalism Publication Leadership Academy Running a Journalism Website Sports Journalism on Steroids Television & Broadcast Tevlevision Journalism Yearbook

1976. Appearing in the 1976 magazines was an advertisement for Quill and Scroll pennants. Pennants have since been replaced with banners.

#QS90

Share your Quill and Scroll memories on Twitter @quillandscroll now using the #QS90 hashtag.

1966. Showcased in the April 1966 volume of the Quill & Scroll magazine was a record of Quill and Scroll’s growth through 40 years. In 1966, 9,077 chapters had been honored. Through the years Quill and Scroll has continued to add chapters and students as members.

To see more history from our 90 years Visit our website: quillandscroll.org/90th-anniversary 9 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

Courses for Adults

iowajournalism.com

University of Iowa Summer Journalism Workshops

COVER TO COVER BOOK REVIEWS

BY BARBARA BEALOR HINES Howard University, Professor Emeritus, Mass Communication and Media Studies

Providing necessary content and mastering storytelling are increasingly important for today’s media. Books featured in this issue of Quill & Scroll provide some strong storytelling examples for students hoping to forge new writing and editing opportunities. All of the books also include some historical content that helps to place them in a journalistic timeline. And there are personalities to analyze – from the most conservative to the liberal.

GETTING REAL

GRETCHEN CARLSON

| VIKING. 2015.

Getting Real hits the mark for getting real advice. As today’s teens and in-betweens are challenged and bullied from many fronts, Gretchen Carlson writes about what it takes to strive for success. A violin prodigy, she attended college at Stanford and became a reporter on local television. Her competitive instincts led her to the Miss America Pageant, where she won the crown in 1989.

For her television work, she won awards from the American Women in Radio and Television (AWRT), as well as Emmy awards for her work at CBS News. Despite her accomplishments, she continues to face cyber-bullying on many fronts. Getting Real shows readers that there will be times when no matter how strong one may be, there will still be challenges.

$28.95

THE TIME OF OUR LIVES PEGGY NOONAN

| TWELEVE/HACHETTE. 2015.

Peggy Noonan has had many roles: speechwriter, columnist, political staff member, broadcast news producer. As a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, she has probably offended thousands of readers, while also endearing herself to an equal number.

“The Time of Our Lives” is her ninth book and is a collection of her writings, with the most well known coming when she worked as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan as one of his speechwriters and wrote his statement following the Challenger space disaster. Noonan also wrote speeches for the presidential campaign of George H. W. Bush, where she became known for phrases “a kinder, gentler nation,” “ a thousand points of light,” and “read my lips: no new taxes.” With this book, the reader will experience the ups and downs of political life, the everyday experiences of Americans, as she shares with her readers the context for many of the essays and columns she wrote.

$30

SHOWDOWN: THURGOOD MARSHALL AND THE SUPREME COURT NOMINATION THAT CHANGED AMERICA

WIL HAYGOOD | ALFRED A. KNOPF. 2015.

Wil Haygood is a talented journalist who has gained fame for the movie, “The Butler” (based on his Washington Post article about Eugene Allen, “A Butler Well Served By This Election”). His work as a journalist took him to The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post, where he honed his storytelling skills.

With “Showdown”, Haygood uses flashbacks to tell the story of Thurgood Marshall’s life and rise to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

From Marshall’s early years at Lincoln University and Howard University Law School, to his work with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, to his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the reader experiences how Marshall fits in mid-20th century American history.

While it’s not a pretty history, what with the protests of the Vietnam War, the racial inequities and the violence of segregation, it’s an important story to tell, particularly so while our country is experiencing campaigns like #BlackLivesMatter. Haygood tells of Marshall’s accomplishments in education and the law, a muchneeded reminder of his legacy.

Haygood describes Marshall’s confirmation battle and the confidence of then-President Lyndon Johnson, who grew close to Marshall as a result of their shared experiences during the process. It’s storytelling at its best.

$32.50 THE LAST OF THE PRESIDENT’S MEN

BOB WOODWARD | SIMON AND SHUSTER. 2015.

Readers will recognize the author as one of the reporters who broke the Watergate break-in story that led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. More than 40 years later, Woodward has written another book in the Watergate franchise. This one is about a little known aide to the president, Alexander Butterfield, who for three years had an office next to the president’s.

The book, based on 46 hours of interviews with Butterfield, is strengthened by the many original documents that Butterfield packed away with him when he left the White House. And even though so many years have passed, it’s still a fascinating read.

Woodward is a masterful storyteller, and this book is no exception.

Woodward reflects on the memos about the Vietnam War and Butterfield’s recollections, writing about the “senselessness of the war.” He reflects on “the devastation and human suffering.” And he quotes Butterfield as describing the Nixon White House “as a cesspool” where staffers were expected to obey orders without hesitation.

There’s a not-so-pretty picture painted of Nixon’s wife, Patricia, as “borderline abused,” ignored or treated with disdain by Nixon – much different than the picture of more recent White House occupants, and makes the reader wonder how cold of a person the former president really could have been.

Some will wonder why Woodward is still “wading back into Watergate,” but there are still many stories to be told – and that is where Woodward is masterful.

10 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

$28

50 years later...

Book reviews have been a crucial part of the Quill & Scroll magazine. This header was used as a part of the magazine’s book review section in 1966. The tradition continues 50 years later.

MICHELLE OBAMA: A LIFE

PETER SLEVIN | ALFRED A. KNOPF. 2015.

$27.95

As she enters the last year of residence in the White House, Michelle Obama is looking forward to when she leaves and the opportunity to speak out and not have to worry quite so much about the consequences. This is just one of the things we find out about the president’s wife, who her grandmother once described as “hardheaded.”

Peter Slevin’s book about the president’s wife focuses on her youth at 7436 South Euclid Avenue in Chicago, through her college years at Princeton and Harvard Law, to her work as a

lawyer and in the health care industry. But it’s when she makes it to the White House, with husband and President Barack, where the reader gets to see how much of a perfectionist Michelle really is. As a result, there’s high staff turnover and drama.

Slevin focuses on Obama’s causes: childhood obesity, support for military families and championing for higher education for low-income students. He tells about how she evolved to working within the political atmosphere as someone who once said that politics “was a waste of time.”

Throughout the book the reader gets a picture of an individual who is tenacious, yet humane, loving but cautious, who is devoted to her husband and daughters, even calling herself the “mom in chief.”

Slevin had the benefit of following the Obamas during and after the 2008 presidential election. A journalism professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill, and former national staff reporter for The Washington Post, Slevin’s access to the Obamas meant he could tell the story from a much broader perspective.

Books for journalism teachers and advisers to check out as summer nears NEWSWORTHY: CULTIVATING CRITICAL THINKERS, READERS AND WRITERS IN LANGUAGE ARTS CLASSROOMS ED MADISON | TEACHERS COLLEGE PRESS. 2015.

This book provides strategies to help teachers use journalistic learning to achieve positive outcomes that engage students in new ways. Centered on research and writing projects that will yield publishable student writing, chapters demonstrate how this approach works across contexts, benefits a broad range of students from diverse backgrounds,

and aligns with Common Core State Standards.

Much of the qualitative fieldwork was done over a four-year period at Palo Alto (California) High School, a school known for its exceptional journalism program, followed by interviews with teachers across the U.S. Madison is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and

Communication at the University of Oregon, an Apple Distinguished Educator and an Adobe Education Leader, a founding producer for CNN, and founder and executive director of Media Arts Institute, a nonprofit organization committed to inspiring and educating digital learners and future generations of media professionals.

$34.95

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When John Ensslin was president of the Society of Professional Journalists in 2011-12, he wondered about the state of high school journalism. He asked SPJ’s Journalism Education Committee to take a fresh look at how high school journalism was taught in high schools across the nation.

This book is the result of that committee’s work: 14 individuals who, to a person, began their journalism journey in a high school

classroom – most in a newspaper class, many in a yearbook class.

The intent of the book was not just to discover how things are, but also to help teachers improve their skills.

It’s designed for journalism teachers or those interested in teaching and/ or preserving the programs.

Section One includes a nationwide survey of teachers, with the context for the study. Section Two provides important historical information and legal guidance: from

11 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

the earliest history and laws to the Hazelwood decision and beyond.

Section Three goes back to basics: how programs have survived, how teachers can use workshops and gain more professional assistance in their classroom. Section Four provides the conclusions, an annotated bibliography and contact information for the editors.

It’s a welcome follow-up to “Captive Voices” (1974) and “Death by Cheeseburger” (1994).

COVERING PUBLIC PROTESTS LAWFUL PRACTICES TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE COVERING PUBLIC PROTEST

By FRANK D. LOMONTE

Executive Director, Student Press Law Center It was the snarl heard ‘round the world.

When University of Missouri professor Melissa Click confronted a pair of college photojournalists and threatened to call in “some muscle” to have them removed from covering a student protest, the confrontation went viral worldwide. Mark Schierbecker’s YouTube video, viewed more than 2.9 million times, led directly to Click’s firing from the university.

That student-produced video demonstrates the power of images to capture the public’s attention and create change. But it also illustrates the safety risks that visual journalists face in the field – especially when covering demonstrations or other disorganized public gatherings.

Students seem to be especially at high risk, because they often look like the protesters they’re covering and can be caught in roundups by police who don’t recognize them as “real” journalists.

It happened to student videographer Cameron Burns when police swept him up along with protesters marching against California tuition increases, to college journalists Judy Kim and Alisen Redmond as they photographed “Occupy Atlanta” demonstrators

in 2011, and to student photojournalists Desiree Mathurin and Sam Bearzi while covering citizen protests against police violence in New York City. These student journalists all ended up in jail just for getting too close to the action while doing their jobs.

At times of chaos when tempers may be high, it’s important for journalists to know their legal rights when gathering images and sound in a public space.

A journalist has the same right as any member of the public to stand on public property – no more and no less. Police or other government employees cannot single out only journalists to be removed from a public place, such as the University of Missouri lawn where Tim Tai and Mark Schierbecker shot their memorable images.

When you’re standing on a sidewalk, the lawn of a park or a comparable piece of public property, then you have a right to photograph and videotape anything you can see. But being a journalist is not a license to jaywalk, trespass on private property, block traffic or otherwise violate laws that apply to everyone else.

It is not an “invasion of privacy” to shoot photos or video of anyone – and yes, that

includes minors – who is in a space open to public foot traffic. That includes not just publicly owned property (a park, a street corner) but also privately owned property (a mall, a hotel lobby) that is exposed to public view. When you walk into a place viewable by strangers, you run the risk of showing up in someone’s photos or videos.

This even includes scenes of medical emergencies. Photojournalists at times have been intimidated and even arrested just for photographing paramedics working on a patient. Patients’ medical records are private, but what a patient looks like lying on a stretcher is not a “medical record.” There is no legal right not to have your picture taken while receiving emergency medial care.

It may be a nice professional courtesy to point your camera away, or to decide not to publish, if someone strongly objects to being filmed, especially a non-famous person.

But that’s not a legal requirement.

There is no law against taking photos or videos outside of “sensitive” buildings that can be seen from a public place. If you are in front of the courthouse, the jail, or any other government building, there is nothing “secret” about the appearance of the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

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12 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

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NEW JWIRE WORKSHOP COLLABORATION AND DEPTH REPORTING ANCHOR NEW WORKSHOP

BY CANDACE PERKINS BOWEN

Director Center for Scholastic Journalism, Professor at Kent State University, Ohio When the Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University decided to host a summer student workshop in 2016, the first question was how can we offer something new? How can we avoid being just a smaller version of some excellent workshops that have been going on for years?

What isn’t being offered — at least not in many places — that we could provide?

These were the answers we discovered: • A hands-on digital workshop that teaches advanced skills to students who have been on their publications before.

• An in-depth reporting and writing focus that allows students to go home with a wellsourced story that can make a difference in their school • A team-building emphasis that allows students from one school to work together as a staff and to also work with groups from other schools • A way to continue the dialogue and the support during the school year by allowing schools to develop additional stories, share and post them on our website and use them in their own publications after the workshop is over.

Judges of scholastic journalism contests report fewer examples of in-depth or investigative reporting as well as a decline in the caliber of published stories despite growth in the use of digital approaches for reporting and coverage. They note the absence of authoritative expert sources, the lack of overall perspective and background, and the use of author opinion in factual news articles.

Even those student media programs that do regularly produce depth stories

and well-sourced issue-oriented coverage could benefit from new approaches and expanded online skills. So that was the place to start.

Thus JWire 2016 was born. The July 2015 meeting of the Ohio Scholastic Media Association board also gave us some encouragement. With a plan for the inaugural year involving Ohio schools, OSMA pledged to support the program with scholarships for students from member schools. That, and a budget and the approval of the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, and we were on our way.

“We hope the workshop will not only emphasize the importance of using FOIA methods and information, but working together, across schools and platforms, to create a stronger and more complete story. The workshop will showcase the benefits of collaboration and how it can accomplish more thorough and meaningful reporting,” said John Bowen, assistant workshop director, former high school adviser and now an instructor at Kent State.

Another JWire instructor, Lori Keekley of St. Louis Park (Minnesota) High School, echoes Bowen’s conviction about the workshop’s premise. “I’ve seen my students in this type of workshop setting. They return with not only an increased knowledge of journalism, but they also return with more experience working in a team,” she said.

The students will be in teams with a reporting/writing faculty leader and also with a technology leader. Kent State multimedia faculty will fill those roles. One of these instructors is Susan Kirkman Zake, managing

editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal before coming to the university.

“All professional print publications are online in some digital form — most use social media as well. It’s vital students and advisers are prepared to create content that’s versatile and takes the best advantage of the multiple delivery platforms available in our modern media environment,” Zake said.

That’s what Zake and her group plan to help students learn.

The workshop will run July 24 – 27 at Kent State with a maximum of 35 students.

Any slots not taken by Ohio students will be available to others. Teams from schools will be a plus, though solo staffers will be able to participate.

If students, for instance, work on a story about concussions in high school sports, reporters will gather national statistics, interview researchers who have studied the problem and doctors who have treated it and then be able to add their own angle with more interviews of their own school athletic directors, coaches, local physicians and athletes. The in-depth story would run on the JWire website and on those of all the contributing schools.

“Once students have seen the how and why of collaboration, we want the workshop’s skills and connections to serve as the basis of important stories through the coming year and beyond. Multiple schools discussing relevant topics like concussions and testing, for example, will give all audiences a more complete look at issues teens face daily,” Bowen said.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

COVERING PUBLIC PROTESTS building’s exterior. (The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has even issued a memo to federal law enforcement officers reminding them not to threaten or chase off journalists outside of federal buildings.) If you can see it, you can shoot it.

Police have at times overstepped their proper authority and confiscated journalists’ cameras or even erased journalists’ memory cards. This may be a violation of federal law (the Privacy Protection Act, which protects journalists against the seizure or search of their news-gathering material) and it may even be a crime, such as theft or destruction of property. Photos are property. Police do not have the authority to destroy journalists’ property – period.

Checking in with an editor and adviser (and ideally with family members as well) is

the single most important safety precaution that a journalist can take when covering an event with large crowds. Since getting arrested is a possibility – not a likely one, to be clear – it’s essential for someone to know your location in case you fall out of contact.

If you are taken into custody by police, your cell phone will be the first thing taken away – so make sure you have key phone numbers memorized in your head, not just saved in your speed-dial.

Of course, knowing the law and actually making the law work in a chaotic scene where police are anxious about crowd control are two very different things.

The YouTube video of Tim Tai facing down hostile university employees at Missouri is a textbook example of how to protect your rights in a professional way. When peo-

ple are screaming and making threats, the journalist must be the calmest person on the scene. Arguing back – or worse yet, grabbing or pushing people – only increases the hostility level. And because journalists will be outnumbered by protesters (and often by police as well), starting a fight is guaranteed to end badly.

Take a lesson from Tim Tai, who did three things exactly right: (1) used a conversational tone, (2) kept on photographing despite demands to stop, so that the harassment he experienced was documented on film, and (3) stood his ground in a public place but did not get into the “personal space” of people resistant to having their pictures taken. That’s the way to stay legal – and safe – while everyone around you is losing control.

13 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

RELISHING THE FUN The value of using communication skills as Hot Doggers and Peanutters

University of Florida grad and former high school yearbook student Jennifer Chow (fourth from left) was part of a panel who spoke in Julie Dodd’s Multimedia Writing class about preparing for careers in the communications field. Students in the class posed for a group photo after class. Photo by Catherine Dickson.

BY JULIE E. DODD Journalism Professor, University of Florida

& JUDY ROBINSON Digital technology specialist

The brand ambassadors for Oscar Mayer “relish” their work: • Driving one of the most distinctive vehicles in the United States – the Wienermobile or the NUTmobile.

• Participating in festivals and events around the country – from the Lakeland (Florida) Pig Festival to the Arizona Snowbowl.

• Calling and emailing local media to set up coverage of events.

• Using news releases and social media to promote Wienermobile and NUTmobile activities.

The Hot Doggers and Peanutters, as the brand ambassadors are called, visited the University of Florida to recruit the next round of brand ambassadors, and we had a group interview to ask them the value of communications skills in their work as traveling public relations agents.

The job of brand ambassador is a oneyear position, with the application process requiring demonstration of skills that high school media students are developing.

Those who make it through the first round of interviews are flown to either Madison, Wisconsin, for the Wienermobile interview or to Chicago for the NUTmobile interview.

As part of the two-day interview process, applicants must select a photo from one of several Wienermobile events and write a caption, a blog post and a tweet. And they are timed. At Wienermobile and NUTmobile events, quick reporting from an event is an everyday activity.

Part of the job of the brand ambassadors is to measure the media impressions received for the Wienermobile and NUTmobile activities – coverage on television, websites, radio and social media.

The team shares a smartphone, a laptop and two iPads – and the keys to the vehicle.

14 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

Each has his or her own for personal use.

We noted that during our group interview, none of them had their phones visible.

They said that their 90-hour training had included emphasis on the importance of listening.

The training includes photography fundamentals. Every time they park their vehicles, they take dozens of photos for people who want themselves and the Wienermobile or NUTmobile in a bigger view than what can be taken as a selfie.

The training also includes teamwork skills. Working in teams, they create a recruitment video.

They also receive 20 hours of driving instruction to help them be ready to drive the large and oddly shaped vehicles. The Wienermobile is 27 feet long – that’s the length of 60 hotdogs end to end.

The brand ambassadors work in teams – two Hot Doggers for each Wienermobile and three Peanutters for each NUTmobile.

The U.S. is divided into sections covered by six Wienermobiles and three NUTmobiles.

At the end of the first semester, everyone trades partners and sections of the country.

The Peanutters explained how they use Google Docs and Google Calendar for

The Hotdoggers (in red) and Peanutters (in blue) visited the University of Florida campus to promote interviewing opportunities to be the 2016-2017 brand ambassadors for Oscar Mayer. From left to right: Alejandra Galindo, Alissa Endres. Gabi Solis, Jennifer Chow and Dylan Eike. Photo by Judy Robinson.

working with the other NUTmobile teams to plan posts and tweets. Group messaging also helps them stay in contact.

The Peanutters are responsible for the Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram accounts, with Mr. Peanut’s Facebook handled by an advertising agency to help maintain a consistent voice.

Four of the five brand ambassadors are bilingual – English and Spanish. They agreed that fluency in Spanish has helped them with a number of the events they have worked.

Three of the five had worked on their high school yearbook staffs and said that yearbook work was a definite benefit to them: • Helping them decide that journalism/ communication was a career interest.

• Developing photography skills and the ability to use software like Photoshop.

• Developing writing skills.

• Learning to design layouts and use InDesign.

• Working in a team – learning to set group goals and to work through differences.

• Selling ads.

• Meeting deadlines.

Oh, and the brand ambassadors are able to include a few hot dog or peanut puns in every conversation. “Cashew you later,” they said, as they waved and drove off to their next destination.

Hot Doggers & Peanutters Alejandra Galindo University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill Business Administration and Hispanic Linguistics Alissa Endres University of Wisconsin Marketing and Entrepreneurship, with a minor in Spanish Yearbook staff at Verona High School, Verona, Wisconsin Gabi Solis Florida International University Marketing, Management, and International Business majors Yearbook staff at Southwest Miami Senior High School Jennifer Chow University of Florida Journalism, with an outside concentration in Sociology Yearbook staff at Celebration High School, Celebration, Florida Dylan Eike University of Missouri Mass Media and Communications

15 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

JOURNALISM SUMMER CAMP IT’S NOT YOUR PARENTS’ SUMMER CAMP

BY MIKE SIMONS

Columbia Scholastic Press Advisers Association President I know the countdown.

You would think the kids would be the ones to have it down pat, but I’m all over it.

Sometime during the first week back in classes after spring break, I’ll crack open a calendar, make note of the date, and start the countdown: only X days until summer vacation!

Summer vacation — a time all publication advisers look forward to, when the computer labs are shut down, the cameras stowed away safely and deadlines are but a distant memory in one direction and barely a blip on the horizon in the other.

It’s down time.

It’s rest and recharge time.

And yes, it’s camp time.

I took my yearbook staff to camp for the first time in 2007, and it marked the beginning of a transformation for our program. In one year, we went from using September and early October as thematic development time and skills-based training to getting a jumpstart — and excellent critique — on the kids’ nascent theme concept and benefitting from their time and training with other instructors. That is, they were hearing from advisers and faculty members other than me, and that was wonderfully healthy — for all of us.

In a recent poll of 90 journalism advisers via the JEA Listserv, many advisers agreed with that idea in particular: Instruction from a different professional was one of the most beneficial outcomes of a shared summer camp or workshop experience. Sarah Verpooten, adviser at Lake Central HS (Ind.), said, “It’s nice for students to hear my same opinions and instruction from another adult.

They see it as more valid, just because someone else said it.” Logan Aimone, who advises at University High School in Chicago, agreed, adding that constructive critique from someone other than their home adviser is beneficial for staffs. “Summer workshops allow students to experience instruction and evaluation from different sources outside their own bubble. They need to learn from peers at other schools, advisers, professionals — and they need critique from those same sources,” Aimone said. Perhaps adviser Clint Smith, of Texas HS, Texarkana, Texas, put it best when he said, “Students can always learn something new from other advisers. After a certain point, most students sort of go tone deaf to their primary adviser — almost like when their parents tell them to clean their rooms.

By exposing them to other advisers it often times freshens their skills and refocuses their drive.”

Though there are camp and workshop offerings nationwide for media of all types, as a year-

book adviser, the intensive days our team spends developing their new theme for the year ahead are invaluable. Given the distraction-free camp environment, our staff makes gains in just hours that might take days at home during the school year.

The focused work and pace at which our staff can brainstorm, share, receive critiques and revise their concept is of tremendous benefit.

Of all advisers responding to my journalism summer camp survey, the ones who send or have sent their staffs to camps were nearly unanimous in their assessment of the biggest advantage to a camp or summer workshop experience: group building for their staff. Joe Humphrey, adviser at Florida’s Hillsborough HS, said, “I think the most important benefit of camp — especially one that multiple students attend — is the ability they have to interact with their peers and begin or continue building strong bonds. Doing good journalism takes many hours, and it helps for students involved to be well bonded.”

That bond can be particularly important for a publication’s leadership team of editors, as JEA certification chair and former Columbus (Ind.) High School adviser Kim Green noted.

“For leaders, the time spent together as a team with quality instructors guiding them allowed them to start school with concrete goals and plans to implement them ... with a unified approach to their leadership strategies,” Green said.

“For newer staff members, attending camp broadened their skills base or opened them to new opportunities and, most important, connected them with more experienced staff members to create a sense of belonging and bonding from the get-go!”

In our shared experience, the bonds that develop within a staff at camp can pay off all year, as they establish a firm — and hopefully friendly — foundation for intra-staff relationships. An added benefit, then, is the bonds that staffs can develop with other students from around the country who are attending the same camp. My students keep in touch with students at other programs, and I think it helps our crew to know that there are other students out there who are embracing the same work and challenges they are, as well as enjoying the same rewards. In short, it’s wonderful for my students to be aware of and connected to the larger scholastic journalism universe beyond our lab.

Many advisers responding to the survey noted that obstacles to participation included the demands of other camps and students’ part-time work schedules, a lack of offerings for newspaper staffs, and high costs.

16 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

Journalism Camps and Summer Workshops

by the numbers Data drawn from 90 responses to a survey posted to the JEA Listserv, January 2016

51

advisers responding to the survey who teach or have taugh at a camp or workshop in the last three years

3

workshops or

of 4 camps attended by

respondents’ staffs are held on college or university campuses

$$ Though cost was the most frequentlycited frustration and concern among advisers taking the survey,

90.5% agreed or strongly agreed that their students’ experience and training were “an excellent value for the money.”

78 13 75 $250 percent of advisers who said that the reputation of a camp or workshop was of ‘high’ or ‘highest’ priority in choosing one for their students

of

Advisers sending students to camps or workshops who send only their editors

The estimated average per student tuition paid by advisers who take students to summer workshops and camps. 12 of 91 advisers said prices exceed $400.

“I teach at as many as eight camps in a single summer and I am always shocked by the money students pay to participate in these opportunities,” Jessica Young, adviser at Orange Glen HS, Escondido, Calif., said.

“My students only attend camps that are low-cost and close to home, because that’s all they and our program can afford. I wish I could take them across the country or send them to amazing workshops at big universities, but we simply can’t afford it. Working in a high-poverty area, it’s heart-breaking because these kids are the ones who need to learn how to use their voices, to speak up for others like them who can’t, and they are limited by their access. I teach them so much in the time that I have them in class, but I know that the experience of a workshop could open even more doors for them,” Young said. Young is a Quill and Scroll trustee.

For staffs facing financial struggles or for whom attendance at a summer workshop is a new concept, it is likely best to start small,

perhaps by sending a core leadership team to camp, and then work up from there. Networking directly with other advisers in your area, or via state press associations and resources like the JEA Listserv, might yield opportunities to collaborate or for you to take a cue from others’ past experience with camps, too.

If participating in an established camp is not possible, consider an alternative approach such as a summertime tune-up or retreat.

“What works best for my editors is a workshop we plan and run ourselves,” Sarah Nichols, Whitney High School, Rocklin, Calif., adviser, said.

“Our entire leadership team attends, and it’s a 3-day retreat model based on leadership, vision, goals, best practices and very specific training rather than making a theme packet, writing stories or producing sample designs. (That production model at camps) is helpful for many, many people. But we find

HSJI

that (at Whitney), we’d rather do more philosophy and process with less production.”

Regardless of the approach you take, the potential payoffs of a summertime staff training experience could be substantial.

Annie Gorenstein-Falkenberg, a veteran adviser now in her first year at Longmont (Colo.) High School who took her last staff to camps, said she struggled with her new staff at times this year, and that a summer workshop might have been a difference-maker.

“I did not take students to yearbook camp this past summer. I was hired at my new school in June, and I couldn’t put together a group of students who could go. This is my sixth year advising and it has been the hardest year I’ve had as an adviser,” GorensteinFalkenberg said. “I am at a different school, and I inherited a struggling program, but so many of the issues that the staff struggles with make me think, ‘We wouldn’t be having this problem if we had gone to camp!’”

HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM INSTITUTE

ADVISER OPPORTUNITIES

STUDENT SKILLS WORKSHOPS

CONVERGED NEWSROOMS

July 11-15, July 17-21

July 11-15, July 17-21

July 17-21

INDIANA UNIVERSITY BLOOMINGTON

Go online to mediaschool.indiana.edu/hsji to get

including how to register.

17 • Quill & Scroll •more Springinformation, 2016

EXPLORING EDUCATION

STUDENT MEDIA TEACH MORE THAN OBVIOUS

By MARK NEWTON

President, Journalism Education Association When I think back On all the crap I learned in high school, It’s a wonder I can think at all.

And though my lack of education Hasn’t hurt me none, I can read the writing on the wall.

—Paul Simon, “Kodachrome”

Today, it is all too easy to lament the state of U.S. education, or the struggles of my state adequately funding public education, or the ill-conceived and misguided “reform” efforts implemented in my school district. And, one could easily take on the race to get an A and load up on community, service, activities and Advanced Placement courses the students in my school — and, undoubtedly yours — participate.

Anyone paying even minor attention to education (well, anyone except the presidential candidates!) can find numerous issues to discuss.

Sometimes, I just stop, wonder and think about it all.

But never for too long — after all, there is a deadline to meet, a new lesson to plan, an experience to understand and another student who needs my undivided attention.

As a journalism teacher and media adviser, I spend countless hours establishing policy and procedures to address my students’ needs and expectations.

As a journalism teacher and media adviser, I spend countless hours creating lessons and opportunities to teach content and skills relevant to each and every one of my students.

As a journalism teacher and media adviser, I spend countless hours getting to know my students as people first, teens second and my students third. Investing in my kids and learning their motivation is, in my humble opinion, my most important assignment.

Fortunately, I teach journalism and advise student media so that, compared to some of my colleagues, all this — and more! — is somewhat more achievable.

The best thing about teaching journalism and advising student media is that, despite

what Paul Simon sings, I know my students can think. In fact, not only can they read the writing on the wall, they can build the wall, then write on it.

I have said many, many times over the course of my 32-year teaching/advising career that I have the best job in all of education. And, I am 100 percent sure, all journalism teachers/media advisers would agree.

We teach 21st century skills: communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. In fact, those skills are so naturally embedded in our journalism curriculum and outcomes, that we spend most of our time not just teaching them, but enhancing them.

In short, our kids — media students — “get it.” I am so proud to sing that — and so are my students. Before I write a letter of recommendation for any student in the media program, I ask them to write me and tell me what it is they have learned from participating. Just as we would expect, each student shares many intimate details and anecdotes of what really and truly matters.

Macy, who now is close to graduating from American University, said of being an editor: “I feel that I have received a great honor and responsibility … to lead the group that essentially leads the school. I feel that it is my obligation as an editor to put to use my best judgment and that it is a true test of my character.”

The second comment is about her aspirations: “I know I want to put my abilities to good use to benefit others and the world around me. I simply hope to do something to better the world, and I want to strive to be the best at what I do.”

Or, like Taylor, currently at the University of Missouri, who said: “This is something I take very seriously. I want to be the person that makes others want to be great, and not just create people who follow instructions, but people who innovate and turn into great leaders themselves. I want to always lead with integrity and kindness. Even though high school journalism is an essential part of my life and school experience, I understand that it’s not that way for everyone, and I want to meet people where they are and help them to learn.”

Kaitlin, now at Marquette University, said: “(Student media) has given me an opportunity to be a part of something bigger than myself.

Journalism has given me a voice as a student and challenged me to find my own voice and share it with others. This program has taught me communication skills, problem solving, work ethic, teamwork and how to meet dead-

18 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

lines. Journalism has taught me life skills that I have applied not only in school but in life.”

She added: “Being an editor … has given me the opportunity to be a leader and share my passion with others. I have been able to work with other leaders to effectively help our staff be successful. As co-editor in chief … I have come to appreciate the strengths of others, as well as the power of collaboration.”

Gabe, now at the University of Colorado-Boulder, said: “I’ve experienced moments that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life, and I’m grateful for all the goods and bads of journalism. I learned how to handle myself and others in high-stress situations and how to resolve problems quickly and productively. I’ve learned to better work in groups and the importance of communication that is needed to create a product. As an editor, I know of the importance of helping others. Everyone struggles with something, and I see it as my duty to help those people so that they can stay motivated. Being an editor doesn’t just mean that I should be giving orders to others, but rather I ought to be working with them to accomplish something really big.”

And, finally, Katie, a senior, said: “Because I have a natural desire for knowledge and love to learn, journalism ultimately rescued me from being a below-average student. It showed me the importance of subjects such as history, something I was only mildly intrigued by prior to my sophomore year. As a whole, I feel that journalism is the career path that will allow me to continue to learn as I get older. Something new is always happening and change never halts, so I know that there will always be more to discover and more to teach others.“ It’s probably not fair to Mr. Simon to argue with his assessment of high school.

It is, though, absolutely fair to argue with the politicians, administrators, counselors, colleagues, community members, parents and perhaps even some students who want to question the role of journalism courses and eliminate media programs.

I would suspect those who ask such questions did not ever take a journalism course or were not involved in a media program in high school. Because if they did, they would, indeed, “get it” — just like Macy, Taylor, Kaitlin, Gabe and Katie.

YEARBOOK EXCELLENCE WINNERS

THEME DEVELOPMENT JOE ROUBINEK Shawnee Mission North HS – A Overland Park, KS MADELYN BOMAR Christ Presbyterian Academy- B Nashville, TN STUDENT LIFE AUDREY DICKENS Shawnee Mission East HS – A Prairie Village, KS RUTH FLEENOR Christ Presbyterian Academy- B Nashville, TN ACADEMICS TRISHA ANDERSON Westlake HS – A Austin, TX MEGAN MCCORMACK Notre Dame de Sion HS –B Kansas City, MO

CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS HAYLEY BRIDGES Haltom HS – A Haltom City, TX

SPORTS ACTION PHOTO GIOVANNA VILLALPANDO Haltom HS – A Haltom City, TX

FEATURE PHOTO BRIDGET WRAY Shawnee Mission North HS – A Overland Park, KS

SEAN JACKSON Arrowhead Christian Academy – B Redlands, CA

PARKER MILLER Richland R-1 HS – B Essex, MO ACADEMIC PHOTO KRISTAL SAIKHO Haltom HS – A Haltom City, TX

CARLY KLINE Davidson Day School – B Davidson, NC

SPORTS CAMRYN MCDONALD Shawnee Mission Northwest HS – A Overland Park, KS LAUREN DWYER Notre Dame de Sion HS –B Kansas City, MO PEOPLE JESSIE BIONDO Francis Howell North HS –A St. Charles, MO BROOKS TRIPLETT Calvary Day School – B Savannah, GA ADVERTISING KARA BAMBERGER Shawnee Mission Northwest HS – A Overland Park, KS

NICKOL TILLEY Richland R-1 HS – B Essex, MO STUDENT LIFE PHOTO KAYLA DAILEY Shawnee Mission North HS – A Overland Park, KS MACY MOON St. Clair County HS- B Odenville, AL CLUBS/ORGANIZATIONS PHOTO ANNA STEARNS Bryant HS – A Bryant, AR PARKER MILLER Richland R-1 HS – B Essex, MO

GRAPHIC DESIGN MARY KATE BRENNAN Kirkwood HS – A Kirkwood, MO SUSAN WANG Arrowhead Christian Academy – B Redlands, CA PHOTO ILLUSTRATION CARLEIGH WHITMAN Shawnee Mission Northwest HS – A Shawnee, KS KENDALL CRISWELL St. Clair County HS – B Odenville, AL INDEX NORMA SALINAS McKinney HS – A McKinney, TX MACKENZIE STRICKLAND Calvary Day School – B Savannah, GA

MACKENZIE STRICKLAND Calvary Day School – B Savannah, GA

HEADLINE WRITING AND DESIGN JOE ROUBINEK Shawnee Mission North HS – A Overland Park, KS MEGAN HAYNES Arrowhead Christian Academy – B Redlands, CA CAPTION WRITING JOE ROUBINEK Shawnee Mission North HS – A Overland Park, KS CASSIDY BROWN Arrowhead Christian Academy – B Redlands, CA PERSONALITY PROFILES GRACE GODSY Kirkwood HS – A Kirkwood, MO MEGAN HAYNES Arrowhead Christian Academy – B Redlands, CA

For full results and more information visit:

http://quillandscroll.org/contests/ yearbook-excellence-contest Photo by Danielle Hass

Judges selected 36 Sweepstakes Award and 321 National Award winners in the 2015 Yearbook Excellence Contest. Over 1,800 entries were evaluated.

Our powerful

YEARBOOK

SUITE CURRICULUM

keeps getting stronger!

Engage your students with collaborative learning activities using Walsworth’s Yearbook Suite curriculum . Our Yearbook Help website combined with the Yearbook Suite gives you all the help you need with yearbook.

Order today and see online at

walsworthyearbooks.com/yearbooksuite.

19 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016

800-972-4968 walsworthyearbooks.com

QUILL & SCROLL Official Magazine of the International Honorary Society for High School Journalists 100 Adler Journalism Bldg., Room E346 Iowa City, IA 52242-2004

20 • Quill & Scroll • Spring 2016