5
B
y the end of July every
summer, I am in the habit
of waking up late, deciding
what TV show I am going to
binge-watch for the day and thinking
about whether I am going to take a
nap or not.
But once the first bell rings on the
first day of school, I know that most
of these life perks will go away and
I’m okay with that. I practice personal
sacrifice.
As an adviser and an impassioned
supporter of scholastic journalism,
I’ve come to realize there are certain
parts of the job that require serious
commitment to ensure that my
students are successful.
“just for the staff.” waiting to see for three months.
When I realized my students
understood the importance of
sacrifice, then I too had to be OK with
giving things up. Sacrifice.
The level of sacrifice comes in
different ways – most frequently, it
is the sacrifice of time. A Wednesday
night might have been reserved to
make a phone call to a friend, but
then having to cancel because the
copy for the yearbook spread due
tomorrow magically deleted itself.
Or, a Saturday is spent at school to
ensure that the online news staff
has access to the technology and
resources they need to complete
a multimedia package, instead of
a matinee of the movie I had been
Initially, I didn’t realize that my duties
would extend past the end of the
school day, and even past the last day
of school. I figured that 85 minutes
on a block schedule was more than
enough time to keep an online news
site up and running, as well as a 248-
page yearbook on schedule.
But, I soon came to understand that
sometimes sporadic and sometime
urgent emails and group text
messages would soon become the
norm.
In my ninth year advising, I have
accepted the sacrifice as part of the
job, but that wasn’t always the case.
I pushed against it because it didn’t
seem fair that I should have to give
up parts of my life. Then one night, an
editor was talking to a staffer about
how this is for “their peers” and not
MAT THEW L APORTE
Matthew LaPorte is starting his
9th year advising the Southwest
Shadow Online News Site and The
Howl Yearbook at Southwest Career
and Technical Academy in Las Vegas,
Nevada. He serves as the JEA NV
State Director and the Co-President
of the Southern Nevada Society of
Journalists. He was recognized in
2015 as a JEA Rising Star. Check him
out on Twitter @educatelaporte and
Instagram @matthew.laporte.
And other times, the sacrifice
might be financial. A trip to a local
conference may end with a donation
to a student who did not bring
enough money or pitching in for a
late-night pizza
party on a deadline night. Advisers
are not cashing in Publisher’s
Clearinghouse checks, but we
know that sometimes the extra $20
investment in our program will go a
long way.
To keep myself sane, I had to identify
my personal limits -— what I would
allow and would not allow. For
example, I now turn off my group
texts at 8 p.m. I now require work
nights to be planned at the start of
the year and not the day before.
I had to also acknowledge my
students’ sacrifices as well. They have
turned down birthday party invites
because they have to attend the
NHS Induction ceremony or they
may stay up an extra hour to finish
editing photos. They even enroll
in one, if not two, summer school
courses to ensure they have room in
their schedule just to be part of the
program.
They know that sacrifice is part of
the job, and they understand that it’s
sacrifice in order to complete their
duties as journalists – to inform and
to serve. If that is the lesson I am
teaching, then I am more than OK
with sacrifice.