Convention Brochure, Website Ready

I hope all IHPSA member schools have received a brochure that includes information about the IHSPA fall convention and other important events for 2008-09. Even though the brochure and convention forms are posted on the IHSPA Web site, I hope anyone who has not received the brochure, will contact me so that I can update addresses that need to be changed. (We are currently updating the IHSPA directory, so if any of your membership information is different this year, the sooner I receive it the more accurate the first posted document will be. We plan to update periodically throughout the year.)

The IHSPA board and I are excited about the changes for this year’s convention, and we think you will like them too since they came from your feedback. The final event should reflect the things most people liked about conventions past and ideas to make future ones reflect interests of all members.

Meetings regarding journalism standards have continued through the summer and are scheduled for the next couple of weeks. I will share updates on the Web site as soon as I have them.

All convention forms and other materials are available either at the link above or by clicking on the IHSPA Web Site here.

Where Did Summer Go?

It’s that time of year when teachers ask, “Where did the summer go?”

Along with the fact that summer breaks are shorter than they were just a few years ago, many journalism teachers use the “break” for additional professional experiences ranging from taking classes to teaching them, so the summer disappears in a whirlwind of activity.

Three Hoosier advisers participated as IHSPA summer interns. Since the program was initiated in 1992, 90 advisers have completed internships that provide a four-week paid professional experience. In addition to the traditional newspaper internship that Lori Volheim, Elkhart Memorial , completed at the South Bend Tribune, two of the advisers expanded the program to new areas. Meredith Bledsoe, adviser at Hamilton Southeastern, completed a photography internship at the Indianapolis Star, and Chad Tuley, adviser at Scecina High School, worked at WRTV Channel 6 in Indianapolis to add broadcasting to the opportunity.

We appreciate the Hoosier State Press Association’s continued support for the print and photography internships, and the Franklin College Pulliam School of Journalism for a commitment to the new broadcast internship.

Be sure to check the internship stories, audio clips and slide shows on the IHSPA Web site (http://ihspa.franklincollege.edu), and let us know if you’re interested in participating in the internship program next year.

I hope you have made preliminary plans for your staffs to attend the IHSPA convention at Franklin College October 16, 17. We have just completed program details, so a brochure about this year’s event called the “Convergention” will be sent at the end of next week. Information and forms are also available on the IHSPA Web site.

Dennis Cripe and I will post important information on the Web site frequently throughout the school year. Make sure that you let us know if your e-mail addresses change.

Good luck with the beginning of the year and communicate your successes and challenges.

Year-End Banquets Inspirational

Planning a publications banquet at the end of the year when life is crazy enough without another event is a real leap of faith. However, many advisers and their staffs continue to promote a final celebration of the year.

I have enjoyed attending several publications banquets in the last few weeks. It’s fun to see the different approaches and traditions the schools establish. Some provide a formal banquet, and others create a party theme. Some name one Journalist of the Year while others name an All-Star Publications Staff or Top Seniors.

Advisers and/or editors provide reviews of the year that speak volumes about the worth of the publications experience. Jeff Dick, editor in chief of the Muncie Central Munsonian, mentioned two specific events that had built the character of his staff. The first was very positive. The staff covered the Clinton and Obama rallies next to professional journalists and reported the events extensively with news, features and opinion pieces.

The other event was a computer catastrophe that forced the staff to recreate all of their established templates and documents. The two experiences provided a great comparison of the agony and ecstasy of high school publications and the overall feeling of accomplishment that all kinds of circumstances can provide.

At each banquet there were healthy amounts of teasing and praise, and I couldn’t help but marvel at the worth of an 8 ½ by 11 inch sheet of paper. It may only cost a few cents, but when that sheet becomes a certificate that honors excellence or dedication, it makes the transition to a priceless document. Parents nonchalantly whisk away tears, and most recipients modestly try to hide the joy they feel despite a pride that is difficult to conceal and wonderful to observe.

At each school the students thank the advisers who have made the publications experience possible, yet I doubt that they can fully imagine the effort involved.

Thanks to each of you for the commitment you make to scholastic journalism in general and the many students who benefit from your dedication.

Note: In the photo above, editors Elizabeth Munroe and Elizabeth Robins each thank Ryan Gunterman for his expertise and patience as adviser for all the Bloomington High School North publications. Robins presented him with a publication of “The Last Lecture.”

An End-of-Year Checklist

Most advisers have an “end of the year list” they depend on to check off things to be done before summer really begins. I hope your list includes these IHSPA items:

4Newspaper Harvey entries due June 6 (almost a week later than usual)

4Plans to attend the 2008 IHSPA “Convergention” at Franklin College, October 16-17.

4A Newspaper Harvey cover letter description and registration forms can be downloaded from the IHSPA Web site by clicking HERE or you can find the same forms by clicking the “Membership/Forms” button on the left side of the IHSPA Home Page.

Remember: Submissions should be limited to one entry per school per category.

For the first time, we are requesting that a CD of all the entries be submitted in addition to tear sheets so that winning entries can be posted and shared through other media with the best quality possible. This is a transition year for this request, so if you can’t send entries in both forms that is okay; but we appreciate the effort to make this improvement for sharing the best work of our students.

4We’re playing with the word “Convergention” for the IHSPA fall conference after reading the feedback from last year’s event. We think advisers and students will appreciate the tweaking to keep traditional favorites such as on-site contests and publication critiques as we add “coffee with a pro” and longer workshop opportunities in an effort to help staffs converge new ideas and technology.

Specific convention materials will be mailed at the end of the summer, but we hope you will reserve the Oct. 16-17 as an opportunity for your staff to elevate the enthusiasm of a new year.

Please report changes in contact information as we start posting the membership directory on the IHSPA Web site to help IHSPA “go green,” use financial resources most efficiently, and provide updated information.

I look forward to attending several schools’ publications banquets over the next couple of weeks. I hope you can all find time to enjoy some of the moments of celebration as the year concludes.

The Rock Star State

It’s fun to be part of a rock star state.

Indiana’s high school newspaper staffs have had the opportunity to cover a major national election story up close and personal for the first time since 1968, providing them with an incredible educational opportunity to participate in the democratic process.

In addition to news coverage, student journalists have written features and opinion articles with a variety of angles relevant to teenagers. They have taken their own photographs and created pages with striking graphics and designs. Bloomington High School North devoted an entire publication to the primary.

Thanks to both the Clinton and Obama campaign staffs, students have been welcome to attend the rallies and town hall meetings as journalists. Advisers say their students have enjoyed the process of obtaining press credentials, working beside professionals and even putting in the extra hours required to report breaking news.

While some staffs have endorsed a candidate on their editorial pages, others have simply urged students to study the issues and if they are old enough, vote. All who have participated will remember the experience long after their student newspaper days have passed.

Anyone interested in viewing some of their work is invited to view sample pages on the bottom of the IHSPA Web site. Click Here to go to IHSPA's Home Page.

Cripe Inducted Into Hall of Fame

Many of Dennis Cripe’s colleagues and family members gathered at DePauw University Saturday, April 12, to celebrate his induction into the Society of Professional Journalists’ Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame.

SPJ recognized Dennis for his 37 years as a journalism educator who has taught a variety of courses for students and teachers and for his many contributions to the Indiana High School Press Association for the past 16 years promoting high school journalism programs and addressing First Amendment issues throughout the state.

The photo above was published as part of a special centennial edition of Dennis's family newspaper, The Review-Republican, in 1954. Dennis, lower left, wrote sports for the paper while his brother, Doug, was the paper's photographer. Dennis's grandfather bought the paper and his parents kept the weekly paper in the Cripe family for more than 50 years.

To read Dennis’s speech and see local news stories about the event, click the following links:

•Dennis's acceptance speech
•Additional coverage on the IHSPA Home Page

Symposium Takes Statehouse By Storm

Despite an ice storm that cancelled travel for many, almost 200 people attended the 2008 First Amendment Symposium at the Indiana Statehouse March 4. In addition to popular features introduced for the 2007 program, this year’s symposium recognized the finalists for Student Journalist of the Year and winners of the David Adams First Amendment Project competition.

It was wonderful to see so many students recognized for their successes at the nucleus of the state’s government.

David Ong, North Central High School, was selected as the 2008 Indiana High School Journalist of the Year; and Elizabeth Munroe, Bloomington High School North, was named first runner-up. The other finalists were Sophia Bairaktaris, Lake Central High School: Sarah Owens, Richmond High School; Whitney Smith, Floyd Central High School; and Shannon Veerkamp, Greenwood High School.

All finalists had the opportunity to meet each other and Governor Mitch Daniels prior to the program.

Lake Central High School publications staffs were awarded first place in the David Adams First Amendment Project competition. In addition to a special issue of the student newspaper that focused on the First Amendment, the staffs organized a school-wide T-shirt campaign to increase awareness and importance of the First Amendment. Profit from the T-shirt project was donated to the Student Press Law Center.

Bloomington High School North placed second in the David Adams contest with a special First Amendment edition of the North Star and a community forum about the First Amendment that included journalism and civic students from the Bloomington area.
Floyd Central placed third with a 16-page First Amendment publication; and Muncie Central received Honorable Mention for a continuing newspaper feature about the First Amendment headlined “Gimme 5.”

The amount of time and creativity staffs devoted to the First Amendment projects gave the new competition an impressive debut that honored David Adams’s support for student expression.