Yearbook Chat with Jim

Pat Monroe has been an adviser at Burges High School in El Paso, Texas, for 29 years. During that time, her staffs have won many awards for their yearbook. This month’s adviser of note shared her background, including her previous career as a broadcast journalist, and what working with yearbook staffs means to her. You can learn more and see pictures of Pat and her students at walsworthyearbooks.com.

Julia Satterthwaite recently made some big changes in her life. She and her family recently moved from Michigan to California.  In her new job at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, California, she added "yearbook adviser" to her list of roles for the first time. Follow along all year as host Jim Jordan checks back in with this experienced journalism educator as she navigates her first year of yearbook. 

In this special WYPN crossover episode, host Jim Jordan teams up with Mike Taylor, of the Ask Mike podcast, to talk about leveling up your yearbook! They bring in yearbook experts do discuss the possibilities and ways yearbook staffs can make improvements. They also speak to advisers and staffs about the ways they want to Level Up their yearbooks for 2020! Get some help achieving your goals. Enter the Level Up contest at walsworthyearbooks.com/level-up and you could win a visit from Jim and Mike!

Becky Tate, CJE, is in a position many journalism advisers would envy. She and the four other high school publications teachers in her district all get along. It probably helps that one of those four is her husband and two are former students.  Becky has advised some incredible, award-winning yearbooks during her three decades at Shawnee Mission North High School in Mission, Kansas. In this episode, Becky and host Jim Jordan discuss her success, her history and the community she helped to build.

When Neelam Borah fell seriously ill her freshman year of college, she soon learned she needed a new kidney. She received that kidney within a few weeks from someone she'd never met. Leah Waters is a high school journalism teacher in Texas, which is how she heard about Neelam's need.  Leah saved Neelam's life, and their shared love of writing continues to connect them. You can learn more about kidney donations at kidney.org.

Way back in season one, host Jim Jordan interviewed six yearbook advisers who had just wrapped up their first year of advising. Five of these yearbook advisers are still at it. Jim checked back in with those five to see how they're doing and what they expect as they head into their third year.  From California to North Carolina, from high schools with thousands of students to a high school with less than 100 students, these advisers bring a broad range of experience to the episode.

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. Dow is now the publications adviser at Shawnee Mission East in Prairie Village, Kansas. Jim named him the May Adviser of Note, and it's difficult to imagine someone more deserving.  Listen in to hear Dow's story, from growing up poor outside Dallas, Texas, to selling magazines at the age of five, to meeting his wife through the yearbook circuit!

Host Jim Jordan has been checking in with Courtney Hanks and the yearbook staff of University High School in Orange City, Florida all year.  This final check-in, done in May, catches the graduating seniors right before they move on to the next stage and next year's staffers before they take over their new roles. 

In this episode, Jim Jordan talks with Vanessa Martinez of El Dorado High School in El Paso, Texas. She shares her journey from high school journalism, to college, to professional journalist, then finding her place as a scholastic journalism educator. She shares what it was like to follow in the footsteps of a well-liked, award-winning adviser, how her competitive streak drives her to help her students succeed and the significance the Spanish language plays in their school and yearbook.

Recorded live at the CSPA Spring Convention, host Jim Jordan sat down with yearbook adviser Sarah Lerner and students who survived the February 14, 2018 tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.  In the weeks following the shooting that left 17 dead, Lerner was approached about putting together a book of work about their school's experiences that day and after.  The result is "Parkland Speaks: Survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas Share their Stories."

Courtney Hanks is making her mark on the yearbook world. She and the staff of the award-winning Odyssey yearbook at University High School in Orange City, Florida, have been working hard to create an incredible 2019 yearbook. Listen in as host Jim Jordan checks in with Courtney and her staff, EIC Emily Edwards, EIC Jonathan Jackson, Managing Editor Brooke Williams, Managing Editor Jordan McKendrick and staffer Julie Annunziato.

Jai Tanner’s yearbook career spans 21 years and three different states – and that’s not even counting her high school yearbook experience. She spent the first three quarters of her career in Texas and New Mexico. Her move from the Southwest to the Pacific Northwest, from an urban high school to a rural high school, required Jai to adapt. She’s grown to love Yelm High School in Yelm, Washington, but it took some trial and error to create yearbooks that are right for her new community.

In the Season 2 kickoff of Yearbook Chat with Jim, host Jim Jordan interviews his friend and peer Mike Taylor, CJE. Mike works as the Journalism Specialist for Walsworth, but the story of how he got there is full of fun twists and turns. Mike shares his story with Jim as well as his thoughts on the yearbooks being created now. If you want more Mike, check out his podcast, Ask Mike and follow him on Twitter, @yrbkMikeTaylor (and use #AskMike). You can follow Jim on Twitter, @yrbkJimJordan.

Kathy Craghead was a highly respected member of the scholastic journalism community. Her death in May left a hole that will not soon be filled. She will be remembered for her dedication to the craft, her sharp wit, and how deeply she cared for her friends and family. In tribute to this extraordinary woman, host Jim Jordan tracked down 15 of her dear friends and asked them to share their memories of Kathy.

Bruce Watterson was a pioneer in the yearbook world. From working for his high school newspaper to being the first (or one of the first) schools to create a yearbook on a personal computer, Watterson is a giant in the yearbook world. Host Jim Jordan chats with Bruce about everything from his humble beginnings in Hazen, Arkansas, to why he's so impressed with what yearbook staffs of today are accomplishing. You can reach Jim at podcasts@walsworth.com or on Twitter, @yrbkjimjordan.