By the time he reached high school, Dow Tate was already a contributor to his local newspaper. That’s how much he was meant to work in journalism. Now adviser of a powerhouse award-winning journalism program at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas, Tate is this month’s Adviser of Note and will be…

Vanessa Martinez never planned on being a teacher. She was a working, professional multimedia journalist in the El Paso area. But life did lead her into the classroom and she’s now the adviser at El Dorado High School. After reading about Martinez below, you can listen to more of her story in the latest episode…

When Jai Tanner made the move from El Paso, Texas to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago, it didn’t seem on the surface to be such a daunting change. But the award-winning yearbook adviser soon learned she was in for a bit of culture shock at her new school, and that the regional differences…

In only his fifth year on the job at Woodland Junior High School, adviser Andrew Young is proving that you don’t have to work with high school kids to produce award-winning yearbooks. Under his guidance, the Round-Up yearbook has been named All-Arkansas by the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) and Young’s students have been frequent…

Alyssa Boehringer, of McKinney High School in McKinney, Texas, is currently advising her third yearbook, but she’s already no stranger to awards. Boehringer was one of four educators to receive the 2018 Medal of Merit from the Journalism Education Association (JEA). She has taught broadcast at McKinney since 2005, but didn’t take over the yearbook…

Earlier this year, Courtney Hanks was named a Rising Star by the Journalism Education Association. Now she’s our latest Adviser of Note. Hanks was also featured on an episode of the Yearbook Chat with Jim podcast. You can find the episode at walsworthyearbooks.com/podcasts. During the episode, Hanks went into the details of the design and theme choices that…

When his dream of building a waterbed didn’t come true, Leland Mallett, CJE, turned to scholastic journalism. It was a fortunate turn of events, and eventually led to a powerhouse scholastic journalism program at Legacy High School in Mansfield, Texas. Mallett has advised The Arena yearbook since its inception when the school was founded in…

Becky Tate, CJE, has journalism in her blood and an amazing pedigree to prove it. She started her scholastic journalism odyssey when she joined both the newspaper and yearbook staffs at Shawnee Mission North High School in Mission, Kansas, guided by long-time publications legend Nancy Hall. Tate attended Kansas State University where she worked with…

She teaches journalism. She teaches AP English. She advises three publications. Judy Cannaday is a triple-threat teacher. She is one of those amazing educators who does it all. She keeps giving and giving, doing whatever it takes to lead her kids to success. She has been leading the way with her outstanding journalism program in…

Tucked away in Trinity, North Carolina, is a powerhouse of a yearbook adviser named Sandy Routh. Even though she is primarily a social studies teacher, she has done two stints as an adviser – one during the first six years of her career and then, after a 15-year break, she returned to advising for her…