Summer 2014
Vol. 36, No. 3
NEWSPA concludes another successful year by Barbara A. Benish NEWSPA Executive Secretary It’s a lot of work to put together the annual NEWSPA conference that draws hundreds of high school students, advisers and professionals to UW Oshkosh each spring. But the smiles make all the work worthwhile. Thankfully, there were a lot of smiles and good comments from the April 9 event at Reeve Memorial Union. Naturally, students were smiling and happy to have a day off school. But they were also smiling as they learned tips and techniques to take back to their schools and make their publications stronger. And they were smiling as they earned first-, second- or third-place honors for their writing, photography or design work at their school newspapers or yearbooks. I must admit; I smiled a lot, too. But then there was a lot to smile about. Nearly 400 students and advisers attended this year’s conference, showing last year’s declining enrollment was just a fluke rather than a trend. Twenty-two schools attended the 2014 NEWSPA conference, including three schools that had not participated at all or not for years, including Little Chute, St. Francis and Wausau East high schools. Kaitlin Wiza from Sevastopol High School and Michele Farnsworth from Green Bay East High School were voted onto NEWSPA’s amazing board of directors, while Aaron Ramponi from Appleton North and Jason Cummings
from Oshkosh North agreed to another term. The board members really are the ones who plan the conference, so if you have ideas for next year, please let them know. Mike DeSisti, the multimedia picture editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, was presented the Skip Zacher Friend of Scholastic Journalism Award winner for giving 16 NEWSPA presentations in nine years, while we surprised editorial cartoonist Joe Heller with a delicious cake congratulating him on his 35 consecutive years as being a NEWSPA presenter. In addition, Monica Ann Salmeri of Sevastopol High School was named the 2014 NEWSPA scholarship recipient; even better, she will be attending UW Oshkosh in the fall. But NEWSPA 2014 also showed how the organization must adapt quickly to challenges our schools and members face. So when Fond du Lac High School’s Cardinal Columns was forced to undergo prior review after running a story on rape jokes in February, we responded by adding a session on prior review. And while I can’t report that Fond du Lac School Supt. James Sebert has changed his mind about the policy, I can say that it looks like the district is willing to come up with a policy that both sides can live with. We’ll update you on what’s happening at Fond du Lac in our Fall 2014 newsletter. So until then, enjoy your summer and the time off. But don’t forget that NEWSPA is here to help you meet whatever challenges you face. Just let us know what we can do. And save the date — the 2015 conference will be held on April 22. I hope to see you then.
Photo by Cody Sinkula NEWSPA’s 2014 keynote speakers Nick Penzenstadler, Alex Gelhar, Amanda Betts and Jake White share their success stories to students at the NEWSPA Conference on April 9.