FEBRUARY 2014VOL. 40, NO. 2WWW.MIPAMSU.ORG

in this issue

Michigan Interscholastic Press Association presents

Adviser Watch 4

Remembering Jeff Nardone 10

Marking Scholastic Journalism Week 12

Be part of MIPA Judging Day 14stet

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Photo by James CollerL’Anse Creuse HS NorthDivision 1, First PlaceSports Action Photo2013 Individual Newspaper Contest

MIPA OFFICERS 2013-2014 UPCOMING DATESABOUT STET

March Judging Day

One-Day Workshop

April Spring Awards &On-Site Contests

August Summer Workshop

EXECUTIVE BOARDJulia Satterthwaite, PresidentJeremy Whiting, 1st Vice President/New Media ChairTracy Anderson, 2nd Vice PresidentSara-Beth Badalamente, SecretaryJesse Sutherland, TreasurerShari Adwers, TrusteeSarah Ashman, TrusteeKate McCallum, TrusteePam Bunka, Yearbook ChairC.E. Sikkenga, Newspaper ChairDiane Herder, Video/Broadcast ChairCOMMITTEESAlexis Bunka, Membership ChairRod Satterthwaite, Legislative ChairGloria Olman, Hall of Fame ChairGayle Martin, Curriculum/Special Projects ChairJody Mackey, Middle School ChairBrian Wilson, JEA Liaison

Stet is the newsletter of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association and is published online by the MIPA executive director and MSU students.

Send letters to the editor and advertising inquiries to mipa@msu.edu

1

14MIPA STAFF

Jeremy W. Steele, Executive DirectorChad Sanders, Workshop DirectorKelsey Parkinson, Conferences and Workshops

AssistantHaley Kluge, Contest and Membership AssistantAlex Everard, Social Media Manager

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3-7

Waterford Kettering adviser named Teacher of the Year

Former MIPA president and current JEA liaison Brian Wilson was recognized as Waterford Foundation’s Teacher of the Year for his work at Kettering High School.

W i l s o n teaches English, creative writing and journalism, advising the Kismet year-book and Mur-mur newspaper.

Wilson also serves as the li-aison between JEA and the National Coun-cil of Teachers of English and teaches at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop.

MIPA launches new summer workshop fundraising tool

MIPA has launched a new crowdfund-ing website to help students raise money to attend the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop in August.

SponsorMe, available at sponsorme.mipamsu.org, allows students to create a

campaign to raise money from family and friends toward their workshop registration. The system works similar to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, allow-ing students to raise money from anyone in any location via the Web.

Donations can be made in any amount and will be applied directly to the student’s registration cost. The site tallies how much money students raise as donations come in.

If students are unable to attend the workshop, donations will benefit MIPA’s workshop scholarship fund.

SponsorMe is free for students to use.

New scholarship helps video students attend #MIPA2014

MIPA has launched a new scholarship to help a student take a video class at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop.

The scholarship is supported by dona-tions, and may be given as a full or partial scholarship depending on how much MIPA is able to raise.

Donations can be made via MIPA’s web-site or by using the donation form on the last page of this edition of Stet. Donations to MIPA, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, are tax deductible to the full extent provid-ed by law. Please consult your tax adviser.

Scholarship recipients will be selected, in part, based on financial need.

Learn more about the video scholarship and other summer workshop scholarships at mipamsu.org/events/mipa2014. Scholar-ship applications are due May 31.

Pell honored with JEA’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Former MIPA executive director Cheryl Pell was honored with the Journalism Edu-cation Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the National High School Jour-nalism Convention in Boston in Novem-ber. MIPA Executive Director Jeremy Steele (pictured above) accepted the award on Pell’s behalf from JEA President Mark Newton. Pell is a senior specialist teaching in the MSU School of Journalism.

WHAT’S HAPPENING

www.mipamsu.org Twitter: @MIPAMSU

Michigan State UniversitySchool of Journalism 404 Wilson Road, Room 305East Lansing, MI 48824

Phone: 517-353-6761 Fax: 517-355-7710

Photo Courtesy of Bradley Wilson

Wilson

On top of reworking the nameplate or cover, assigning, writing and editing stories, tak-ing Homecoming pictures and the hundreds of other activities that your staff is involved in outside of the publication, they still need to accomplish one goal that will set the tone for the rest of the year: They need to start to gel.

Of all of the things an adviser can do for a staff, if they can get them to become cohesive enough to stick together yet flexible enough to accept and work through obstacles, then that gel will hold them togeth-er through anything. Here are some adhesives that have been tried in the past.

Get the staff together outside of school

Go to a staff member’s house for potluck and a video or two. Go to a local pizza place (video games are a plus). Go on a hay-ride. Go to a movie. It must be outside of school to be effective, and remember you will not get 100 percent participation. That’s OK. If you get a majority, you’ve made progress.

Get staff shirtsDesign something the staff

can be proud of and get them soon. The staff will get use out of them and if you get nice sweatshirts, they are nice for casual days for you.

Celebrate birthdaysWhen it is a staff member’s

birthday, have the person with the previous birthday bring in a treat. We celebrate summer birthdays as half birthdays, and it helps break up the Janu-ary-February blahs.

Awards/RewardsWe give out paper plate

awards on some Fridays to cele-brate the weekend and the issue that just passed. They are mock awards that try to recognize as many staff members as possible.

Also, I like to put candy in staff boxes on Mondays. Getting to them through their stomach is an easy way to please.

There are hundreds of other ways to do this, but here are some ideas to kick around. If you want to send me other ideas, we could print them in STET.

Remember, these are not all the adviser’s job. You advise and initiate, but pick someone re-sponsible on staff to be in charge.

If you are successful, and your staff gels, you have created loyalty, which is probably the most un-derestimated emotion used when an adviser deals with a staff.

Originally published in the Octo-ber/November 1995 issue of Stet. Jeff Nardone was the adviser of The Tower at Grosse Pointe South HS.

Getting staff to gel is a top priority

Jeff Nardone1994-1996 President

Grosse Pointe South HS

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

EDITOR’S NOTE: This space usually is reserved for MIPA’s president.

But MIPA President Julia Satterthwaite and I thought it would be more appropriate to yield this month to a former president.

Jeff Nardone was a huge fan of MIPA, and we were huge fans of him. How could you not be?

Jeff was among the nicest guys you could ever meet. He was generous with his time and devoted to his students. He had a gift to make everyone around him feel special. He was everything you want in a teacher.

We were heartbroken when he died Nov. 3 after a battle with T-cell lymphoma.

He was only 48. There were a lot more deadlines left in Jeff. There was so much more we wanted to learn from him.

Jeff did a couple tours of duty on MIPA’s board, serving as president from 1994 to 1996 and writing a column for each issue of Stet during his term.

Even a decade later, his advice seems timeless.

We’ve collected Jeff’s Stet columns in a collection at issuu.com/mipamsu.

Jeff impacted the lives of thousands of students — in his own classroom and at MIPA events. He was a regular speaker at the Fall Conference and a long-time instructor at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop at Michigan State University. You can learn more about Jeff on page 8.

We miss Jeff so much, but we also are so thankful for the time we spent with him.

— Jeremy Steele, MIPA Executive Director

The Tower

A note found in Jeff Nardone’s desk and included in a 16-page tribute edition published by the The Tower after Nardone died in November.

By Alex Everard

Alexis Bunka has only been advising since 2011 but she has a long history with MIPA. Her mother, Pam Bunka, is the long-time newspa-per and yearbook adviser at Fenton HS. This school year, Alexis Bunka took over two new roles, as MIPA’s membership chair and as the yearbook adviser at Henry Ford II HS in Ster-ling Heights.

MIPA: When and where did you first become passionate about journalism?

Alexis Bunka: On my high school year-book staff at Fenton High School. During my senior year our goal was to get a Gold Crown. When we went to New York and won a Gold Crown, that’s when I decided journalism was what I wanted to do. I wanted people to experi-ence that and see their work published.

How did you go about getting your first teaching position at Utica?

I loved being a student in the Utica com-munity, so naturally when I was being placed for my student teaching, that’s where I wanted to go. Stacy Smale was the journalism adviser I wanted to work for, and she wasn’t set on hav-ing an intern. In fact, I had to sort of convince her that she did. I was calling people, sending emails and having mutual colleagues put in a good word for me.

What was your experience like stu-dent teaching at Utica?

I loved being a student teacher at Utica. It was the first time I ever worked closely with a newspaper staff. I loved seeing the kids get their awards when I judged with MIPA after watching them create the pages.

What was it like going to Car-man-Ainsworth as a full-time teacher?

They didn’t have a yearbook. My first year I had four students, so it was a growing pro-cess. They didn’t have any standards set, so we worked together and set some. The first year our students won nine individual awards.

After leaving Carman-Ainsworth, you returned to your roots in the Utica dis-trict teaching at Henry Ford II. Can you describe what that was like?

I’m extremely happy to be back in the Utica community. I was excited to be in a district that supports journalism so much, and it’s amazing to work with Stacy Smale again. Every high school within Utica competes through MIPA. Being a part of such an amazing journalism department is a dream come true.

What are some important lessons that you try to instill in your students?

I think accuracy is crucial. Making sure you’re giving the right facts, but also that in the end you’re letting everyone who is a part of the story have their voice heard. Representing all angles of a story accurately is crucial.

What does MIPA mean to you? To me, MIPA is the standard for high

school journalism. I think it’s one of those great organizations where advisers can get assistance and advice from other advisers. It’s a tight-knit support group. My students have learned through the fall and spring conferences how big of a deal MIPA is, and they get excited. I’ve pulled out judging packets for my Henry Ford II students so they get to soak it in and see what work is ahead of them if they want to achieve excellence.

What is your relationship like with your mom, Pam Bunka?

When I was in eighth grade, she said, “You’re going to be a photographer, so which staff would you like to be on?” It was kind of like when your parents put you in a sport be-

fore they know which one you’ll like. I got my first camera in third grade, so that was auto-matically instilled as a part of my life. Photog-raphy was really important to both of us and it still is. She never really pushed me towards journalism or teaching, she just kind of opened the door.

Now, as an adviser, I look at her as a men-tor. I call her daily for support and questions. She’s always there. Whenever we have dinner, we talk about how to make our jobs better, how our students are doing, how to cover things, and how to handle specific situations. I really enjoy the roles she has played in my life and professional development.

Bunka brings it to Ford

Courtesy Photo

Alexis Bunka working with a student at Henry Ford II HS in Sterling Heights. Bunka is a second-generation adviser and MIPA volunteer.

ADVISER WATCH

QUICK LOOK: ALEXIS BUNKA2005 Graduated from Fenton HS

2009 Graduated from MSU with bachelor’s degree in journalism

2010 Student teacher at Utica HS

2011 Began advising yearbook at Carman-Ainsworth HS

2012 Graduated from MSU with English degree

2013 Moved to Henry Ford II HS, teaching English, advising yearbook

2013 MIDDLESCHOOLCONFERENCENOV. 7 @ MSU UNION

SUMMER ONLINEJOURNALISM EDUCATION VISUAL TOPICS:

PHOTOJOURNALISM FOR ADVISERS

ADVISERCOURSES

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF JOURNALISMIN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE

MICHIGAN INTERSCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION

JRN 808, July 1 to Aug. 18, 2014 • Online!

Take your photography to the next level with training from the Michigan State University School of Journalism. We offer options to meet your needs: Take this class for graduate-level credit to meet state or district professional development requirements, to work toward a journalism endorsement, as part of MSU’s journalism master’s degree or not for credit for a reduced rate.

Contact the MIPA office at 517-353-6761 or mipa@msu.edu to learn more.

“This is our newspaper’s first year (coming to fall conference), so it’s a blessing that we will all get to share our ideas and what we’ve learned.”

Fahim Kamaly, Hamtramck HS

“I learned a lot about new techniques to use in our designs. I’m excited to try them this year.”

Krystin Verran, Grand Ledge HS

“I was excited to be taught by professionals that I don’t normally get to learn from in class.”

Taylor Stevens, Eisenhower HS

FALL CONFERENCE

RE-CAP

STUDENT FEEDBACK ABOUT FALL CONFERENCE

OCT. 21, 2013 @ LANSING CENTER

94 SCHOOLS98 ADVISERS

1,722 STUDENTS

By Alex Everard

As the last buses pulled away from the Lan-sing Center, Mary Beth Tinker and Mike Hie-stand stood and chatted about the 2013 MIPA Fall Conference, satisfied after speaking to one of their largest crowds. Armbands scattered the tables alongside stacks of assorted MIPA-mem-ber publications in the wake of the 1,847 Fall Conference attendees.

“That was a good one,” Tinker said. “There were so many kids—I really like speaking to the larger crowds. It’s exciting.”

Tinker’s right-hand man and partner in crime on her nationwide journey agreed.

“Yes, that was certainly one of our larger crowds,” Hiestand said. “It’s so great to see all those kids get excited about their First Amend-ment rights.”

Tinker received the celebrity treatment from some students, while others inquired about ex-actly why she was famous and what she was do-ing in Lansing. Brione Clay, a junior at Southfield Lathrup HS, explained how she was unaware of Tinker’s first amendment fight.

“I learned a lot about the Tinker Tour today,” she said. “I didn’t know about the armbands un-til today. I didn’t know that it all started from protesting the Vietnam War.”

According to Tinker, interacting with young people is one of the main reasons she decided to embark on the Tinker Tour and one of the main reasons she wanted to speak to MIPA students.

“I never get tired of telling my story. A lot of the time when I’m explaining everything that happened and how I stood up for what I be-lieved in, the kids I’m talking to will look a little surprised,” Tinker said. “When I tell them that all of that happened to me when I was their age, sometimes even younger, their eyes light up. It’s like they suddenly realize how important their voice is.

“Age doesn’t mean anything when it comes to your freedom of speech,” Tinker said. “That’s what makes the First Amendment so great.”

Tinker Tour visits with Michigan students at conference

When Grosse Pointe South HS teacher Jeff Nardone died on Nov. 3, his students at The Tower sprung into production mode. They published a 16-page special edition about their adviser. This is an excerpt of their work.

REMEMBERING

JEFF

BY THE TOWER STAFF 2013-14

During his 23 years of educat-ing in classrooms around the country, Nardone taught his students many lessons. He taught students how to rec-

ognize their strengths. He taught students to take risks and accept challenges. He taught students that the paper was never about them, or him – it was about every single per-son that picked up The Tower.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, Nardone passed away at the age of 48 from T-cell lymphoma. He is survived by his wife, DeEtte, two sons, Kal and Cy, and stepdaughter, Shannon. Al-though he is no longer here, Nardone will always be remembered by the hundreds of colleagues and thousands of students he af-fected throughout his life.

Following his death, there was an outpour-ing of love and memories from people across the country. Students, friends and colleagues took to Twitter and Facebook to share their memories of Nardone. A Facebook page, “Jeff Nardone Fan Club,” was created for the man that never had a Facebook account. As of Feb. 17, 2014, there were 1,167 likes. A day after his death, the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association created a scholarship fund in honor of Nardone.

These are a few of the ways he impact-ed others:

As a teacher:Prior to teaching at South, Nardone

taught for three years at East Detroit High School. He previously said that although he enjoyed his time teaching there, he knew as soon as he looked at South that it was where

he was meant to be. In his words, it simply had the “wow factor.”

“He walked right into that Tower staff room and made it his own,” English teacher Meaghan Dunham said. “And kept the reputation, if not even build-ing the reputation, of this internation-ally recognized pro-gram.”

Despite being only the third adviser of The Tower since it began in 1929, Nar-done showed eager-ness when beginning this new challenge, English teacher John Monaghan said.

“When Jeff became the new Tower adviser, I asked him if he was intimidated, and he said he wasn’t at all,” said Monaghan. “He didn’t rebuild the program, he kept it strong. He incorporated tech-nology, cared so much for the staff, and treated his students like adult journalists. That’s best shown with students calling him Jeff; he really saw students on a professional level.”

Nardone always held his stu-dents to the highest expectations, English teacher Harry Campion said. Al-though they were not always able to meet these expectations, they would constantly try to reach this bar.

Remembering a legacy: A job for others, a lifestyle for NardoneJeff Nardone taught his journalism students to never begin their stories with a name, unless that name was truly important

[see NARDONE on page 10]

MIPA establishes Jeff Nardone Scholarship for the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop

Jeff Nardone’s legacy to MIPA and scholastic journalism will continue through a new scholarship created by the organization in his honor.

MIPA’s board on Nov. 4 established the Jeff Nardone Scholarship for the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop to honor Nardone’s dedication to the organization and scholastic journalism.

Nardone died Nov. 3 after a battle with T-cell lymphoma. He was 48.

Nardone was a long-time member of MIPA’s board, serving as MIPA’s president from 1994-1996. For years, he led the orga-nization’s selection of the Student Journal-ist Staff, an annual honor MIPA bestows on the top graduating student journalists in Michigan. He also was a frequent speaker at MIPA conferences, a frequent judge in the organization’s annual statewide con-tests and was an instructor at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop at Michi-gan State University, where he most recent-ly taught the sports writing class.

Nardone taught English and journal-ism at Grosse Pointe South High School, where he advised the award-winning weekly newspaper, The Tower. Nardone’s students won more than 800 individual awards from state and national organiza-tions. The Tower was inducted into MI-PA’s Hall of Fame in 2002, as a charter member. To be inducted into the MIPA Hall of Fame, a student media outlet must accumulate nine Spartan Awards in a 10-year span.

During his career, he was recognized numerous times by state and national or-ganizations for his contributions to scho-lastic journalism. Nardone received the Golden Pen Award, MIPA’s highest honor for an adviser, in 1998 and he was named a Distinguished Adviser by the Dow Jones News Fund in 1999. He received the Gold Key from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2008. In 2011, the Nation-al Scholastic Press Association honored Nardone with its highest award for jour-nalism educators, the Pioneer Award.

Those wishing to support this new scholarship may make a donation by cred-it card at mipamsu.org or use the gift form on page 16 to send a donation by mail.

Due to his belief that all of his students could succeed, he helped them grow as both writers and individuals, Leah Noeck-er ’11 said.

“The way he taught it made it easy to learn, but you didn’t even realize you were learning,” said Noecker. “It was just how he handled others and his actions that re-ally influenced me. His ability to go so far above and beyond and to remember the lit-tle things about everyone and just to be our friend. That’s his legacy, and I want to be able to do that as well.”

Nardone taught his students to be real journalists and cover real issues, not just typical high school material, current New York Times reporter Pat Healy ’99 said.

As a teacher:“He worried about things really relevant

to high school kids,” said Healy. “He wanted to show us that high school journalism isn’t just about Homecoming games, it’s really about human lives.”

Through his approachability and sense of humor, Nardone was able to develop close relationships with his students, Healy said.

“There were so many nights when Jeff was sitting on a ratty dirty couch reading over issues when he could have been home or he could have been playing basketball,” said Healy. “He was just there. He would stay there until everything was done.”

Just as Nardone’s sarcasm and humor were a major part of his personality, his stu-dents often reciprocated with their own hu-mor. Alex Lang ’03 said one of his favorite memories of Nardone is when they played an April Fool’s Day joke with the help of the administration.

“One night we took everything out of his class room. I mean we took chairs, tables, chords, phone, everything,” said Lang. “We hid it behind the stage in the old auditorium. He ended up coming in the next morning on April Fool’s day and none of his equip-ment was there.”

Although Nardone was livid for the rest of the day, The Tower staff could not stop laughing about it, Lang said. He eventually learned to laugh at the joke, as well.

His colleagues said that they have al-ways admired Nardone for his passion in the classroom.

“I hope that I can remember to bring the enthusiasm for education to my work the way he did,” said Campion. “I hope I never forget what’s important about education, be-cause he never did.”

As a colleague:Nardone also developed strong relation-

ships with South staff members over the span of his career. Many of these colleagues said that they are unsure as to how they will adjust to his absence.

“I think I’m going to have to readjust my entire world view,” said Campion. “Even though he’s been sick for a while and been gone all school year, I still walk down the hall and expect to see him walking out of the of-fice. I expect to look into his room and see him there.”

As a sort of “ringleader” of the staff, Dun-ham said that Nardone always made sure that everyone could pull together in difficult times. This ability to step forward and do what was necessary was a unique attribute of his, and is one of the many reasons that he will be missed.

“He was the heart and soul of our staff,” said Campion. “I don’t know what we’re go-ing to do without him.”

His kindness was also one of his great-est attributes, Dunham said. When her house burned down five years ago, the Nardones took her and her family in for the first week afterwards. Despite the aw-ful circumstances, she said she has vivid memories of Nardone trying his best to cheer her up during the ordeal.

“His ability to make you see the best and get you to laugh when there really isn’t something funny was really a gift of his,” said Dunham.

Beyond the South staff, Nardone also made close friends with other high school journalism teachers and other leaders in the field.

After working at countless workshops with Nardone, Betsy Pollard Rau, Central Michigan University journalism professor, said she was amazed by the sincerity of his love for others.

“Everyone who worked with him was special to him,” said Rau. “How a man can have that much love for so many thou-sands of people totally mystifies me. There wasn’t an e-mail or a text I had that didn’t say ‘Love you’ at the end, and he meant it to me and he meant it to everybody else he told that to.”

Ultimately, both fellow staff members and other colleagues say that Nardone’s lega-cy is one that will not be easily replaced.

“You see the richness and feel bless-ed to have known him and be a part of his life,” said Dunham. “But then you see what big of a hole that other people are going to have to fill.”

[NARDONE, from page 9]

Five days on aBIG TEN campus!w Writingw Designw Photow Businessw Leadershipw Social Media

w Newspaperw Yearbookw Onlinew Digitalw Broadcastw Video

BE A PART OF THE UPSTART!The Upstart is the official student media outlet of MIPA’s Summer Journalism Workshop. Upstart staff members cover the workshop and learn advanced journalism techniques. It’s great experience for advanced students and graduating seniors looking to hone their skills, pick up some great clips and see what it’s like to live on a Big Ten college campus for five days.SEE LAST YEAR’S UPSTART COVERAGE AT HTTP://UPSTART.MIPAMSU.ORG

#MIPA2014MIPA SUMMER JOURNALISM WORKSHOP

Aug. 3–7, 2014 » Michigan State UniversityThis year, let’s rock it out.

The MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop has everything you

need to produce your best work ever. We’ll help you amp up

your newspaper, yearbook, video production or news website.

Spend five days on Michigan State’s campus working with

some of the most respected instructors in the nation.

You’ll make new friends for life, and we guarantee you’ll leave

more energized than ever.

LEARN MORE AT MIPAMSU.ORG

PMPNJQ QB B B{P

THIS SUMMER, MIPA ROCKS(And raps. And twangs. And maybe even yodels a bit.)

MORE TIME CONSUMING/MAY TAKE MORE THAN A LITTLE EFFORT

◗ Take some video of your upcom-ing deadline. Post it online, via Facebook or Twitter to show your community what a scholastic publi-cation goes through to share all the news that’s fit to print, or record the memories that make the year.

◗ Portrait project: Draw attention to the week and your staff. Assign students a portrait project. There is a great lesson in the Spring 2011 issue of Communication: Journal-ism Education Today that gives 20 ways to take stunning portraits. Depending on access to photog-raphy equipment, students could check out cameras for a day with a partner or group and head out on campus to get their portrait taken (you could even specify that their portrait be taken with a cellphone camera for additional challenge). They then come back to the lab, upload their photos and chose one portrait of themselves that they feel encompasses their personality and who they are. Share them as a staff and then share them with your community. Mount them and put each staffer’s name on his or her portrait. Then use a wall out-side your publication office or an empty trophy case to display the photos.

◗ Have an “Amazing Race”-style First Amendment scavenger hunt. Students are given clues relat-ed to each of the Five Freedoms scattered around the school (eg. “speech” clue hidden on the speak-er). Kids have to find each item, then go on to the next clue. Prizes are given to the first three to com-plete the list.

◗ Promote yourself. Use this week as a special way to recruit. Send out a celebration packet to your feeder

schools, send it with some of your staffers. Create a brochure to ad-vertise your program and suggest easy ways those in your community could get involved.

◗ Send thank-you notes to adver-tisers and/or other people in your community who consistently help you out.

MEDIUM EFFORT

◗ Take a few minutes of your day during the week to share an issue of Superman #706 which focuses almost entirely on Daily Planet ed-itor Perry White and the problems he faces with eerily modern day problems like decreased reader-ship. The effort in this is to find the actual issue.

◗ Have your students tweet about the First Amendment and moments during the week they think about those freedoms. Use the hashtag #sjw2013 so we can all follow your tweets!

◗ Celebrate the week by conducting short lessons on each of the Five Freedoms, one each day.

◗ Have your students take each day to conduct polls of the student body about those freedoms, what they know, but more importantly educating them on what they don’t know. Culminate the week with a penny drive for the Student Press Law Center.

◗ Change your profile pic on Face-book to the SJW poster.

◗ Invite your friends on Facebook to “like” the Scholastic Journalism

Week 2014 page in order to get more ideas from other advisers around the nation.

◗ Write a status update during the week about why you consider scholastic journalism essential to your school, or why you continue to be a part of scholastic journal-ism. Share your passion, share your inspiration. What keeps you going?

◗ Encourage your students to do the same as #7.

◗ Celebrate yourself, at the end of the week, treat yourself to something special (whether it’s a cup of your favorite coffee, a pedi/mani, maybe a massage). You, as an adviser, do so much to support what your stu-dents do, you deserve to take some time to yourself.

◗ Take the TAO of Journalism Pledge. www.taoofjournalism.org. Then, when your staff takes the pledge, take a photo of each person taking the pledge and a group photo to commemorate the event. Send it to coyers@gmail.com, or post it to the SJW 2014 Facebook site yourself.

◗ Print posters from this page for the week and put them up all over your school the Friday evening before so students see them at the beginning of the week.

SMALL EFFORT

◗ Have your staffers wear their staff shirts, J-shirts, or anything and everything related to journalism at least once during the week at the same time. JEA Bookstore

◗ Have your students take a day to write a letter to your local paper about the importance of journalism to them, the school, etc.

◗ Do Something! Don’t let the week slip by!

How you can celebrate Scholastic Journalism WeekThe Journalism Education Association invites you to celebrate scholastic journalism week from

Feb. 16–22, 2014. How you help promote this week is entirely up to you. It is hoped that your

involvement and that of your students will serve to raise community consciousness regarding

the benefits of scholastic journalism. Your students will learn from both the promotion and their

celebration of an event holding major significance for them. Here are some ideas:

MORE IDEAShttp://jea.org/home/news-events/scholastic-journalism-week/

Be a MIPA judgeI don’t remember many specif-

ics about the first time I attended a MIPA Judging Day. I can’t tell you what categories I judged or what schools had the most winning entries or what was the best piece of work I saw.

What I can’t forget is how that day became one of the most valu-able of my advising career.

There are plenty of things I do remember about that day. I remember why I decided to come: I’d taken Betsy Rau’s Newspa-per Advising course at MSU the summer before and, as I’m sure is the case for just about everybody who came into Betsy’s web over the years, she instantly became my “MIPA mom” and most trusted mentor. When she told me I should do this, I did — no questions asked.

I remember how I felt when the alarm went off at a little before 6 on a Saturday morning. (Annoyed). I remember how I felt on the drive (harried, because I was running behind; nervous because I didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing).

I remember how I felt when I walked into the cavernous room in MSU’s Communication Arts & Sciences Building. I went from nervous to flat-out scared because I was walking into a room with doz-ens of faces, few familiar and nearly all of them belonging to what I was quite certain were great journalistic minds that would soon expose me for the know-nothing rookie I believed myself to be.

It was a lot like the first day of school, and had my mom been with me at that moment, I’m rea-sonably confident I’d have grabbed her pant leg and wailed about wanting to go home. Instead, while I was calculating the odds that I could slip out unnoticed — maybe cruise over to Grand River Avenue and see if any record stores were

open then head home — Betsy, my MIPA mom, saw me and waved me in. The rest is history.

Much like the first day of school, my fears disappeared quickly, helped no doubt by the almost infinite supply of coffee and doughnuts at the back of the room. Before long, I was too into what was going on to worry much about how scared I was. Six or so hours later, I was back in my car, driving west and thinking: “Wow. That was kind of fun. And I learned a lot.”

I learned about what was going on in scholastic journalism around the state — there’s nothing like reading through hundreds of contest entries in five or six hours to give you an idea about the scope of work that’s happening in programs around Michigan. I learned about myself — that may-be I knew more than I thought. Most importantly, I learned that at least once a year there was a big room that would be filled with a wide variety of wonderful people who were as passionate about this journalism stuff as I am.

The next Monday when I walked into my newsroom, I was a better, more confident and more knowledgeable teacher with boatloads of new ideas to share. I

haven’t looked back since. Since I first got involved with Judging Day, I’ve taken grad classes in journalism advising, gone to local, state and national conventions and read dozens of books on my craft. They’ve been great but ha-ven’t been cheap. Participating in Judging Day is equally educational and all it costs me is half a Satur-day and a few gallons of gas.

Now I’m looking ahead to my 13th Judging Day. It’s now one of those days on my calendar that gets blocked out months in advance. I’ve canceled weekend trips, passed up event tickets and completely cleared my schedule to be there. When I walk back into that big room, I look forward to the faces I’ll see. Some are now lifelong friends who have become part of my daily support network. Others are valued col-leagues and fellow travelers who I see once a year. Some are people I’ll meet only once — college students or professional journalists who come in for the day. All are folks I’ll enjoy being around and who most certainly have a thing or two to teach me that I can bring back to my classroom.

And the doughnuts and cof-fee? Rest assured, they’re as good and plentiful as ever. Hope to see you there.

COME TO JUDGING

DAYWHEN:

9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, March 1.

(Time may vary)

WHERE: Michigan State

University’s Communication Arts & Sciences Building

SIGN UP: mipamsu.org/

resources/mipa-judging-day

QUESTIONS? Contact the

MIPA office at 517-353-6761 or mipa@msu.edu

SHARE YOUR TIPS

& TRICKSDo you have ideas

to share to help student journalists

and advisers do their jobs better?

Submit your column of no more than 800

words and a high-resolution photo to

mipa@msu.edu.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

C.E. Sikkenga is MIPA’s newspaper chair and advises

The Bucs’ Blade at Grand Haven HS.

C.E. Sikkenga Grand Haven HS

TIPS & TRICKS

Photo by Jeremy Steele

Jayna Salk of Troy HS looks at yearbook entries with Ashley Allison and Eric Ratkowski at MIPA’s 2013 Judging Day.

ONEYOU ONLY NEED

2014 MIPAONE-DAYWORK-SHOP

FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 2013 9 AM TO 1:30 PM MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM

InDesign for Publications• Using tools• Placing text and graphics• Formatting text• Importing photos• Designing a basic page• Using grids effectively• Selecting type• Using libraries and styles

Take Your Website to the Next Level• Managing content on a Wordpress

site• Finding new themes and plug-ins

to keep up with current trends• Embedding data from outside

sources• Organizing your staff to create

content

Jumpstart Your Yearbook• Developing your theme• Learning current yearbook trends• Using effective typography• Understanding mods• Creating voice

Newspaper Design Clinic• Analyzing current newspaper• Using effective typography• Designing new standing heads• Creating alternative story forms• Finding suitable art & photos• Updating your design and

coverage concepts to help your print publication compliment your online presence

Bring copies of your paper and a sketch pad for ideas.

Photoshop• Toning photos for publication• Sizing photos for resolution• Organizing files• Creating cutouts

Building Next Year’s Staff*• Recruiting good students for your

publication staff• Generating/updating a staff

manual• Using portfolios for semester

exams or for generating writing, design and photography ideas over the summer

• Selling advertising and canvasing the city over the summer

• Planning a first day publication• Using Storify and other tech.

tools to generate interest in social media accounts for your publication

• Justifying to administrators and curriculum directors how journalism meets Common Core state standards

• Lesson planning for the last few weeks of school after seniors leave

Advisers and future editors should consider taking this course in pairs or small groups and should bring laptops, if possible.

Video Best Practices• Learn the ins and outs of MIPA’s

Video Best Practices• Refresh experienced students’

knowledge of journalistic content• Introduce newbie broadcast

journalists to all that goes into content for a show

• Run through technical considerations for conducting interviews, creating good video, and producing a news show

• Look at the process of producing a studio show or live news broadcast

THECLASSESRegistration$35 per person from a MIPA member school

$45 per person from a non-MIPA member school

Lunch$5 per person

Includes pizza, pop, chips and a cookie

If you want to bring your own lunch, that’s OK too.

LocationMichigan State UniversityCommunication Arts &Sciences Building404 Wilson RoadEast Lansing, MI 48824

Parking$7 per car; free bus

parking available

REGISTER ONLINE ATwww.mipamsu.org

REGISTER BYMARCH 10

Advisers attend

FREEif they bringfive students!

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