Speaker bios T-W Michael Tuschman is the news editor for the St. Louis Park (Minn.) H.S. student-run publication, The Echo. He serves as a Student Partner with the 45words initiative for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission. 11 a.m. Friday, L100J; 11 a.m. Saturday, M100G Brittany Valencic is a life editor for The Red & Black newspaper in Hillsborough, Fla. She also works on The Red & Black website and has served as a writer and designer. She serves as a Student Partner with the 45words initiative for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission. 11 a.m. Saturday, M100G April van Buren, MJE, studied at the University of Missouri-Columbia’s journalism school. She has advised newspaper for eight years, yearbook and literary magazine for three, and has started two broadcast programs from scratch. She is also the New Mexico state director for JEA and teaches in a small, rural district outside of Taos, N.M., with her husband, Matthew, a Taos News reporter. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, M100F Lisa Van Etta, who has taught high school journalism for 27 years, advises four publications — two print, two online — in addition to teaching broadcast journalism for Cypress Falls H.S. in Houston. Three of the past four Texas High School Journalists of the Year were graduates of CFHS. Two of the winners went on to win the title of National High School Journalist of the Year. 10 a.m. Friday, 205C Ann Visser, MJE, has been advising yearbook and newspaper at Pella (Iowa) Community H.S. for the past 27 years. She is a JEA past president/convention consultant. She is also a past president of the Iowa H.S. Press Association. 6:45 p.m., Thursday, Auditorium Main Dan Waechter is the interim chairperson of the Department of Journalism at Ball State University. With more than 20 years’ experience serving as an assistant department chair and academic adviser for both undergraduate and graduate journalism majors, Waechter has garnered both university and state recognition for his services in the field. Noon Saturday, 205B Wendy Wallace is director of the high school journalism program at The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla. Wallace came to Poynter from the St. Petersburg Times, where in turns she reported the news, wrote headlines, sold ads, ran the creative marketing department and even delivered the paper in the middle of the night. 10 a.m. Saturday, M100H
David Wallner was a professional journalist before advising The Norse Star, one of the top student publications in Wisconsin. During 33 years his students have won hundreds of writing and photography awards in state and national contests. Wallner has been a speaker at state and regional conferences and teacher conventions. He works with young teachers in the JEA’s national mentoring program. 9 a.m. Saturday, L100J Lizabeth Walsh, MJE, advises the Re-WaNe yearbook at Reno (Nev.) H.S. She has taught and advised for 18 years. Her staffs have earned CSPA All-Columbian Honors and Gold Medals and NSPA Marks of Distinction, First Place and All-American ratings. She is a member of the JEA Certification and Curriculum commissions, a teacher at yearbook camps and a publications judge. 9 a.m. Friday, M100A; 2:30 p.m. Saturday, M100B Melissa Wantz advises The Foothill Dragon Press, the online news site at Foothill Technology H.S. in Ventura, Calif. A former journalist, Wantz is a 2009 ASNE Fellow and taught the Digital Journalism Bootcamp for Advisers class at CSPA’s Summer Journalism Workshop in June. The Foothill Dragon Press received NSPA All-American status and an Online Pacemaker this year. 2:30 p.m. Friday, L100J Margie Watters, CJE, has been advising for 35 years and teaches at Westmoore H.S. in Oklahoma City, Okla. She is JEA’s Oklahoma state director, a past CSPAA vice president; past president of OIPAA and holds the CSPA Gold Key. Watters is also a former Oklahoma Yearbook Adviser of the Year. She is JEA Distinguished Yearbook Adviser and DJNF Distinguished Newspaper Adviser. Noon Saturday, 205A Chris Waugaman, CJE, teaches journalism and AP Language and Composition at Prince George (Va.) H.S., where he also advises the Royal News newspaper and TRNWIRED.org. Both staffs have won NSPA Pacemaker and CSPA Crown awards. He is director and online editor of the Virginia Association of Journalism Teachers and Advisers. 9 and 10 a.m. Friday, M100F Joe Weber is editor-in-chief of the Kirkwood Call newspaper and thekirkwoodcall.com at Kirkwood (Mo.) H.S. He serves as a Student Partner with the 45words initiative for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission. 11 a.m. Friday, L100J Alan Weintraut teaches journalism, film and AP English at Annandale (Va.) H.S. He advises The A-Blast and The A-Blast Online. Weintraut
mentors advisers and students through The Washington Post’s Young Journalists Development Program. Weintraut was a Carnegie-Knight panelist at Harvard University to study youth consumption of the news. and was 2006 DJNF National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year. 8:30 a.m. Thursday, M100A Laura Weiss is the co-editor-in-chief of The Spoke and Stoganews.com in Berwyn, Pa. She previously worked as news editor, centerspread editor and a staff reporter. She serves as a Student Partner with the 45words initiative for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Commission. 11 a.m. Friday, L100J; 11 a.m. Saturday, M100G Anita Marie Wertz, MJE, advises the newspaper, yearbook and journalism programs at Cesar Chavez H.S. in Stockton, Calif. She is the JEA Junior High/Middle School Commission chair. She oversees the JEA Aspiring Young Journalist Award, which honors top middle school journalists. 9 a.m. Friday, L100J; noon Friday, M100B; 8 a.m. Saturday, 205D; 1 p.m. Saturday, 205A Reid Westrem is the journalism adviser at Minnehaha Aacdemy in Minneapolis. 10 a.m. Friday, L100B; 11 a.m. Friday, L100C; 10 a.m. Saturday, M100B Sara Whittaker, CJE, advises the awardwinning West Side Story newsmagazine at Iowa City (Iowa) West H.S. This is her ninth year as adviser. 11 a.m. Saturday, M100C Anthony Whitten began his scholastic journalism career as a high school yearbook editor. He then served as business manager of Corks & Curls at the University of Virginia for three years. He advises the Guardian yearbook and the Watchdog newspaper at Westfield H.S. in Chantilly, Va. The publications have earned state and national awards including a CSPA Silver Crown. 9 a.m. Saturday, M100H Shannon Williams works as a creative accounts manager for Jostens. He served as a high school and college yearbook editor for award-winning publications, managed an award-winning weekly newspaper following college and interned for the CBS Evening News during the Oklahoma City bombing. A former adviser, Williams has been involved in several curriculum projects at Jostens. 9 a.m. Saturday, L100B Bradley Wilson, CJE, advises college media in North Carolina. He is editor of the publications and photography contest coordinator for the Journalism Education Association and often
JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention
SAN ANTONIO — Nov. 15-18, 2012
JEA/NSPA — 89