SPRING 2012
Adviser Update
Page 5A
Training is never out of season
By LINDA SHOCKLEY
efore the center court tip-off,
B
players polish their skills at
basketball clinics.
Like athletes, journalism
students use summer workshops
to get in shape for publishing,
broadcasting and blogging in the
coming school year. This issue of
Adviser Update lists some triedand-true camps as well as newcomers. Thanks to the scholastic
press organizations and gifted
educators who make these workshops go. We continue to update
our website with listings, so keep
forwarding them to [email protected].
Since 1968, DJNF has underwritten summer high school
workshops in urban and rural
communities to promote diversity
on school media and in the news
business. We salute program
directors and funders who offer
this intensive free training to
students who might not otherwise
get the chance.Directors tell us it
is becoming increasingly difficult
to finance these programs as the
media industry grapples with its
own viability. That’s a challenge
DJNF DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
the Fund plans to address as long
as necessary.
I want to turn the spotlight on
a set of workshops DJNF is funding this summer because they
focus on middle schoolers. The
sponsoring organization is called
WriteOnSports, (writeonsports.
org) based in urban New Jersey,
directed by Byron Yake, a former
sports editor and executive for the
Associated Press. The concept is
to teach middle school students to
write using sports because it is a
subject that can corral their passion. Curriculum is developed by
a literacy specialist/sports enthusiast and the day-to-day staff is
comprised of teachers from these
urban school districts including
Newark and Montclair. Professional athletes and sports executives are among guest speakers,
and students go on field trips.
As with other programs, the students’ work is published. We’re
hopeful the model can succeed
nationally.
Summer is also a good time for
advisers to get away for vacation,
yes, but also training, brainstorming and rejuvenation. Turn to the
Summer Workshops Directory for
programs that may be just what
you and your staff members need.
Teacher awards program
invites nominees
It’s time to extend an invitation to you to compete in DJNF’s
Teacher Awards Program for
the title National High School
Journalism Teacher of the Year.
Aaron Manfull of Francis Howell
North HS, St. Charles, Mo., holds
the 2011 title and is bringing all
of his considerable teaching and
web skills to bear. His platform
emphasizes support, collaboration
and encouragement. He created
thenext26.com website as a vehicle to do that. So far the “conversations” have covered recruiting
staffers, great advice and his signature acceptance speech about
the importance of mooching.
Here’s an exciting detail that
may give you another reason to
submit your nomination for the
2012 competition. The Teacher
of the Year has been welcome to
attend seminars at the Poynter
Institute for Media Studies of St.
Petersburg, Fla., since 2005 and
recently webinars in the e-learning division, News University.
In the coming year, each of the
four Distinguished Advisers can
log onto a free webinar and the
Teacher of the Year wins access to
10 webinars. Thanks to Poynter’s
Wendy Wallace, high school program director, and Howard Finberg, director of interactive learning, both members of the Fund
family, for making this real.
Our other sponsor, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association,
provides free registration to its
March conference in Manhattan,
a platform to speak at its Adviser
Luncheons and teach seminars
at the conference. CSPA was the
first to stream the Teacher of the
Year’s address there live.
So don’t delay. The process is a
little shorter and simpler to make
it easier to meet the July 1 deadline. The details and the form are
on pages 8A and 9A in this issue
and on our Forms page at https://
www.newsfund.org.
One more nudge for the
humble soul who doesn’t want
Linda Shockley
is deputy director of the Dow Jones
News Fund where she has worked
since 1988. She administers the
Teacher of the Year program, the
business reporting internship program and the summer high school
journalism workshops. Shockley
handles the Fund’s media relations including its website, news
releases and Adviser Update.
Before coming to Dow Jones & Co.,
she was an education reporter,
news editor, suburban bureau chief
and city editor for the Gannettowned newspapers in Westchester
County, N.Y. Linda holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from
the University of Bridgeport in
Connecticut. Contact her at linda.
[email protected] or 609520-5929.
the limelight— do it for the
kids. They will stand to gain a
newsroom laptop, access to the
Poynter webinars, college scholarships and a teacher who had his/
her best year ever. Think Col.
Charles Savedge, Randy Stano,
Mary Benedict, Gloria Grove
Olman, Jack Kennedy, Steve
O’Donoghue, Bob Button, John
Bowen, Beth Fitts, Paul Kandell
and Valerie Penton Kibler, to
name a few. Lead. Learn. Inspire.
By NORMA SUMARNAP
KNEESE
P01.V52.I4
See RESPECT on page 11A
Norma Sumarnap Kneese
is Multicultural Chair for JEA and
has taught English, speech, readi