Convention A Great Learning Experience

I think everyone will be excited with all of the opportunities available for the 2009 IHSPA convention at Franklin College October 22 and 23.

There are many ways to experience the convention thanks to a creative effort to meet a variety of requests and circumstances.

Those who choose to come on Thursday evening can choose between On-Site competition or social activities for students and advisers. Click here for a link to the On-Site categories and registration form (See Quick Downloads). Click here to see the full convention schedule which is available in a PDF format.

Friday’s schedule includes keynote speaker Thomas French, a new approach to the awards presentation, and two different kinds of learning experiences.

For those who want an in-depth experience there are intensive workshops that last 2-3 hours.

Preregistration (dhadley@franklincollege.edu) is needed for the following intensive workshops:

Intro to InDesign and Photoshop

Advanced Publications Design

Website Development

Broadcast

Preregistration is not required but encouraged for additional intensive workshops:

Story Development with Thomas French

Student Media Leadership

Photojournalism Skills (Students should bring a digital camera for hands-on experience)

In addition to the intensive workshops, there are 19 quick sessions in a wide range of topics available at the following link.

Registration at the $25 fee (which includes lunch) has been extended through Oct. 5. Anyone with questions is encouraged to send an E-mail or call 317.738.8199 or 317.341.4360.

Yearbooks Key To Positive Schools

Matthew Tully has been writing a series of articles about Manual High School for the Indianapolis Star as a way to shine a light on the state of the Indianapolis Public School system. His story told through the eyes of Manual’s teachers, administrators, students and parents is available on his blog here, or type in “Manual Project at IndyStar.com/MatthewTully.

The third article of the series printed in the Star’s September 13 issue discusses the inspiration and school spirit that have diminished at Manual as traditions have been eliminated.

Tully says, “I have seen many mind-boggling things during my first month at Manual High—including students arrested and teachers threatened—but I was still caught by surprise when informed about a tidbit of life at the school."

That “tidbit” is the fact that the school hasn’t had a yearbook in years. There is no student newspaper or student council, and the school hasn’t produced a musical in a decade. He doesn’t blame these things for Manual’s low test scores, graduation rate or attendance, but he describes them as additional signs that the school is not thriving.

Co-curricular or extracurricular activities may seem like expendables when budgets are tight, but they are valuable components for a positive learning environment. Those who have had the opportunity to meet students from across the country through workshops, conventions and high school visitations often conclude that students who attend schools that have strong publications programs and student government benefit in a variety of ways.

The opportunity for students to express interests and concerns about school activities and issues provides ownership. Not every student suggestion or complaint has to lead to change for the student body to feel that individual and collective voice matters. Communication between students with other students, teachers and administrators through publications and student government creates a dynamic that contributes to a positive school atmosphere.

An administrator at one of our member schools read last Sunday’s article and took the time to thank the publications adviser at his school for leading groups that play such an important role.

The Indiana High School Press Association tries to help schools promote programs that become the “tidbits” that make such a difference. Keep us informed of your successes and challenges as we try to share best practices with others.

A Friendly Reminder About Those Deadlines

One of my friends in the preschool business used to joke about the way their lives revolved around holidays. As soon as they gathered all the materials and activities to celebrate Halloween, they began to collect ideas for Thanksgiving. In a similar way many IHSPA activities revolve around deadlines that occur throughout the year. Even though we try to provide mini calendars and E-mail updates, it’s challenging to keep track of all of them.

The next big deadline is a September 15 postmark for yearbook Harvey entries. Information and entry forms can be downloaded from the IHSPA Website. The yearbook Harvey competition is a great contest for everyone, but it is also a good first competition for new programs and special individual efforts. I meet adults who tell me they still cherish Harvey awards they received many years ago. It is often the first award a journalism student wins.

I hope you and your students will have the opportunity over the next few days to gather some of the best work from the 2009 yearbook to submit for this year’s contest.

Then start looking ahead to the next deadline: registration for this year’s convention October 22-23 at Franklin College.

As always, keep us informed of your success and challenges, and enjoy the Labor Day weekend.

Welcome Back

I have talked to many IHSPA members throughout the summer, but it’s always fun to reconnect with everyone as we all start a new school year.

The first half of August still seems early for school to begin, but it’s a good time to make plans for the IHSPA fall convention at Franklin College October 22 & 23. A mailing is leaving Franklin tomorrow that will include membership information and a flyer that promotes this year’s convention with keynote speaker Tom French, a Hoosier and Pulitzer Prize winner who enjoys working with high school students. In addition to the keynote address, he will also lead an intensive writing session.

Traditional on-site contests, short sessions and intensives will provide a variety of opportunities for your students.

We are also planning to continue regional workshops throughout the year, and we encourage advisers to suggest locations and topics. The next workshop is a Scholastic Partnership workshop August 28 at I.U. Southeast. These workshops are designed to help advisers, administrators, and editors develop positive working relationships and promote the First Amendment in their schools. Anyone who would still like to attend the I.U. Southeast workshop should contact me as soon as possible at 317.738.8199 or 317.341.4360 or send an E-mail to dhadley@franklincollege.edu.

Good luck with the school year, and continue to share your successes and challenges.

Reflections On A Successful School Year

As we sprint or claw our way to the finish line, it’s a good time to share some information from the IHSPA epicenter.

Although business is down on a global scale, IHSPA has had a good year with a boost in attendance at the fall convention and the best crowd ever at for First Amendment Symposium. Those of you who can mark dates on your school’s master calendar for the 2009-10 school year can list Oct. 22-23, 2009, for the annual convention at Franklin College and March 3, 2010, for the First Amendment Symposium at the Indiana Statehouse.

As we continue to plan those programs over the next few weeks, advisers and students are welcome to suggest speakers or topics for sessions. Positive feedback from the double and triple session intensives at the 2008 convention encourage us to offer them again in addition to traditional choices.

Another plus for the past year was a partnership with J-Ideas to offer regional workshops at Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Crown Point. A regional workshop is already planned for the new school year at I.U. Southeast on August 28. Anyone who would be interested in attending that workshop or suggesting a site for 4-8 schools in another location is encouraged to contact me for program possibilities.

I have enjoyed visiting schools and attending awards banquets to meet the students who produce the publications that arrive in the mail. Indiana has much to celebrate.

As we continue to work together to share support and ideas, remember that I am eager to help disseminate news about honors, events, and job openings. (Several 2009 graduates are available to fill vacancies.)

Hoosier Star finalists for both yearbook and newspaper will be posted as a group as soon as I receive newspaper critiques from all the judges.

The Harvey Awards newspaper deadline is June 1, and the yearbook Harvey Awards deadline is September 15. Information about the Harvey competition can be downloaded from the IHSPA Web site:

http://ihspa.franklincollege.edu/

How Are You Handling This Tough Economy?

The economy has led the news for several months. It’s the primary business item at most meetings regardless of the organization and the chief concern among many families.

I have been holding my breath when I check E-mails for the last couple of weeks as I worry that school corporations will start to announce that journalism positions or programs will be cut. Any school that could benefit from IHSPA support is encouraged to let me know. I will try to help any way I can by writing letters or speaking to people who influence budget items.

Although I have heard from people who are worried, I haven’t received specific bad news from Indiana advisers at this time. However, I wrote a letter last week to try to save the Executive Director’s position of another state’s scholastic press organization.

Most high school publications send reporters to school board meetings on a regular basis anyway, but this is an especially important time to do so as huge decisions are made about funding for facilities, programs and personnel. Budget details may be difficult to understand and boring to endure, but they teach student reporters a great deal, and they often affect more students and staff than any other area. (We can even hope that budget stories will improve math scores.)

As the news reports economic challenges for different regions of Indiana, I always associate the areas with the names of member schools. We are interested in posting in-depth stories we receive about the economy on the IHSPA Web site. Everyone could benefit from the variety of angles. In fact, your editors might begin their planning by reading this column written a few years ago by the public editor of the Detroit Free Press.

In addition, if your publications have discovered ways to save money in a time of decreased advertising revenue and/or subscriptions, send the ideas to me, or write an article to share with others. Remember that everyone benefits when we share solutions with each other.

Good luck as you face the final deadlines of the year. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mary Beth Tinker: An 'Ordinary' Woman With Extraordinary Courage

Student officers for the Indiana High School Press Association listed Mary Beth Tinker at the top of a list of speakers for this year’s First Amendment Symposium.

Journalism teachers may have been more excited than the students when this “celebrity of a First Amendment landmark case” accepted the invitation to speak.

In 38 years of special events and keynote speakers I have never seen so many people gather before and after an event for an extra word, to shake hands, take a photo or express appreciation for her contribution to freedom of expression.

The irony is that the extraordinary part of Mary Beth Tinker is that she was and remains ordinary.

In 1965, Tinker was a shy eighth grader, and a good student who didn’t want to be in trouble at school. Yet she felt that she should be able to wear a black armband to support peace and protest war. She was suspended from school, and her family received hate mail and threats on their lives when they supported their children’s right of expression.

The Tinkers were as surprised as anyone when the case went all the way to the Supreme Court where a 7-2 decision ruled that Mary Beth should be able to wear an armband to school and that all students and teachers who enter a public school should “not shed their rights at the schoolhouse gate.”

Today, Mary Beth Tinker is a registered nurse—still an ordinary citizen, but one who realizes that her name gives her the opportunity to encourage other ordinary citizens to “speak up, shake things up and create change that makes the world a better place.”

She emphasizes the fact that everyone makes history. She says that some people make history because they decide to make a stand, and others make history because they do not.

When she told one of her young patients that her name was Mary Beth Tinker, he sized her up as just another nurse and told her that he had seen the real Mary Beth Tinker one time.

Mary Beth Tinker could play the hero, but she has a new role as a cheerleader for activism. She realizes that when people see that she is more like them they are more likely to realize their own power to rise above the ordinary to the extraordinary.