Advisers of Note

Forty-five years. That’s how long yearbook adviser Susan Massy taught. Though many associate her with yearbook greatness, she did not always work with the yearbook program. She began advising the Lair yearbook at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Shawnee, Kansas, in 1988.  In her time as a teacher and scholastic journalism adviser, Massy’s yearbook program became one of the

Jim McCrossen is a mild-mannered yearbook adviser at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. Behind his gentle demeanor is a person with a wealth of interesting life experiences and a passion for making the world a better place. One way he works to improve the world around him is through his role as a teacher and scholastic

February’s Yearbook Adviser of Note is Tucker Love, from Shawnee Mission South High School in Shawnee, Kansas. Tucker is in his fifth year of advising the Heritage yearbook, and his staff were recently named NSPA Pacemaker Award finalists. You can listen to our conversation on Yearbook Chat with Jim at walsworthyearbooks.com/podcasts or wherever you listen. Profile  High school attended –

Jason Davis has had quite the journey. He grew up in Minnesota, but now lives in Arizona. His first job was as a fry cook in his family’s restaurant, then as a professional journalist, and now is a teacher. He had no yearbook experience when he started advising, but how has one of the best middle school/junior high yearbook programs

Monica Rodriguez – known to her students as M-Rod – is the yearbook adviser at Gulliver Preparatory Upper School near Miami. All of Monica’s three staffs – the Reflections literary magazine, the Raider Voice news and print magazine, and the Raider yearbook – received Crown and Pacemaker Finalist recognition in 2021. It’s particularly exciting as this is the first time

Karen Johnson, MJE, always knew she wanted to be a teacher and a coach. When she started college, she realized that social studies (which often seems to go hand-in-hand with coaching) wasn’t really for her. It wasn’t long before she switched to English, then added a journalism minor. Since then, she’s been a yearbook adviser at tiny schools and at

“[My staff and I] never put the awards at the forefront,” yearbook adviser Liz Luna shared with Jim Jordan on the latest episode of Yearbook Chat with Jim, so it wasn’t expected, but still exciting, when the staff learned their 2020 yearbook was an NSPA Pacemaker finalist. Profile Elizabeth Luna Athens Drive High School, Raleigh, North Carolina  High school attended?

Ronna Sparks-Woodward loves yearbooks. She knew while she was still in high school that she wanted to be a teacher, and specifically that she wanted to be a yearbook adviser. She turned her passion for a yearbooks into a career, and clearly loves what she does. In addition to this blog post, you can hear her podcast interview on “Yearbook Chat