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.

Tinker Story One Of Courage, Patience

My recent voice mail message begins, “Hello. This is Mary Beth Tinker.”

I’m not generally a name-dropper, but I have taught the Tinker v. Des Moines case throughout my career, so it is exciting to have a Tinker kid return a call.

The Tinker family couldn’t have imagined that their symbolic protest against the Vietnam War would still be a landmark case for student expression 40 years after it went to the Supreme Court, but from the beginning their desire to protest required the kind of courage that it often takes to protect the First Amendment.

Tinker said that when administrators heard about the protest they called an emergency meeting and decided that any student wearing a black armband to school would be suspended.

“After that, we weren’t sure what to do. We had learned about the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment in school, and we felt free speech should apply to us too,” Tinker said.

She added that the young activists used the examples of civil rights protesters as their models for the courage needed to proceed.

Four decades later students think of the Tinkers as models of courage too. IHSPA student officers instantly named Tinker as their top choice for a speaker at this year’s First Amendment Symposium.

Although she is a full-time registered nurse in Washington D.C., Tinker still works for peace and rights for young people.

And that leads to the best part of the voice message—that she will speak at this year’s symposium. For more information about this event contact Diana Hadley. There is no registration or fee, but knowing the number of people who plan to attend helps us plan.

What Makes A 'Complete' Yearbook?

It’s that time of year when the IHSPA tide is going out and coming in at the same time. The mail service delivers yearbook critiques from the judges, and I send newspapers to be judged.

As I tabulate the results I like to see that Indiana publications score well with national judges; and I scan critique comments to get an idea of trends and priorities.

It’s a good time of year to emphasize a judge’s note on a critique I received this week. He reminded the staff that a yearbook has three vital functions. It should be a memory book, a history book, and a record book. A yearbook that isn’t all of these things may not receive the highest rating, but even more important—it may not meet the “test of time” and thus fail to provide its audience and the school with a valuable resource.

At many schools the yearbook may be the only place to locate information about athletic team records, school traditions, and curricular and facility changes.

I attended a meeting where people thought their local high school’s first football team was in the 1940s until I showed them a 1908 yearbook with a football team picture.

Looking through old yearbooks also provides historical links to the present…and new story ideas. For example, many schools are challenged to sell ads during a recession, and some are struggling to keep programs as the corporation tries to find ways to cut costs. Students from older schools may look through the yearbook archives and find that yearbooks weren’t published some years during the 1930s and 40s due to the economic challenges of the depression and World War II.

Despite the positive feedback from judges about last year’s publications, it’s also that time of year when advisers tell me their staffs have the “doldrums.” The fun of creating the theme and covering the first events of the school year evolves into a task that seems too big to finish in the days that remain. That’s because it’s a big job. It’s not easy to provide the primary memory, history, and record of the school year, but it’s still important and appreciated, and Indiana staffs have a tradition of dong it well.

Let us know how IHSPA can help as you continue the second half of this effort.

Note: Click Here to see the latest yearbook and newspaper Hoosier Stars. Scroll down on the IHSPA Home page to see these winning publications.

Mary Beth Tinker In Our House

It’s a big news day. Mary Beth Tinker is coming to “our house”—the Indiana Statehouse when we celebrate the First Amendment at the third annual symposium March 3!

It is impossible to bury the lead when a Tinker kid can share her experience with us on the 40th Anniversary of the Tinker vs. Des Moines Supreme Court Decision. Although Mary Beth has a full-time job as a nurse, she is arranging her schedule to speak to us because she knows how important it is to educate people about the First Amendment and inspire them to protect it.

A mailing went out today with information about deadlines for the symposium, newspaper Hoosier Star and Student Journalist of the Year. Some advisers already know the thrill of seeing their students recognized in the beautiful North Atrium of the Indiana Statehouse. We hope everyone will encourage their students to participate in the contests for that kind of experience.

Check out the information about this year’s symposium essay contest and the First Amendment Project competition in the mailing or on the IHSPA Web site. Although the event is free and requires no registration it is helpful to know how many people to expect.

I hope you will call or e-mail me with the number attending and any questions you have about the contests or parking at the Statehouse at:

dhadley@franklincollege.edu office phone: 317.738.8199 or cell phone: 317.341.4360

A Time To Think About You, Our Members

Each year after the fall convention the new IHSPA board meets for a weekend retreat to evaluate the organization specifically and the state of scholastic journalism in general as we list priorities for the next year.

It’s a daunting task due to the variety of our schools. IHSPA represents some schools with fewer than 100 students in four grades and others with more than 4,000. We include public and private institutions, rural and urban. Some of Indiana’s journalism programs were established 100 years ago while others are building or rebuilding.

The board tries to consider the variety of needs as we plan programs and services. We always appreciate feedback for current programs and suggestions. Our next big event is the First Amendment Symposium at the Statehouse March 3, 2009. The finalists for Indiana High School Journalist of the Year will be introduced and the recipient of this honor will at announced in addition to essay and First Amendment Project winners. We hope many schools will plan to attend and participate in this year’s symposium.

Regional workshops and seminars are smaller events planned to help publication staffs benefit from programs within their geographical area. J-Ideas and IHSPA co-sponsored a Scholastic Partnership Seminar for Fort Wayne schools on December 5. We have others planned for second semester. Anyone interested in an opportunity for a regional workshop should contact me for information.

One of the most important things we can do is communicate with each other to share concerns and ideas. The better we connect the more IHSPA can help everyone. I look forward to hearing from you.

National Election '08 With A Hoosier Twist

Hoosier journalism students should be listed among the winners when the 2008 election process comes to an end today

As Indiana became a battleground state during the primary for the first time in 40 years, high school reporters made it their story too; and they have continued to cover it for their publications and Web sites as candidates have made dozens of campaign stops throughout Indiana.

The effort to share photos with each other has been fun, and it has created a service among our members that we may want to expand for other areas of coverage.

I am still collecting PDFs of campaign coverage for an overall story about theN coverage. We will try to post as many as we can on the IHSPA Web site.

Jim Streisel says Carmel High School’s HiLite staff will be doing live coverage through election evening on the HiLite Web site: http://www.hilite.org

Congratulations to everyone who has worked to inform students about the issues and encourage them to take part in the democratic process.