It’s a perfect partnership.
The Gloria Shields Workshop, held in Dallas, has educated thousands of high school journalists for 37 years, including approximately 600 students and 60 advisers from eight states in 2017.
The National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), with a rich 96-year history, works to educate and recognize the work of student journalists, to improve the quality of student media and to foster careers in media.
“The Gloria Shields Workshop is widely considered one of the top high school journalism workshops in the country, and this exciting partnership aligns beautifully with the mission of NSPA,” said Laura Widmer, executive director.
The Gloria Shields/NSPA Media Workshop is scheduled for June 25-28, 2018, at its longtime location at the Addison Marriott Quorum near the Galleria in Dallas. Early bonus classes are scheduled for June 24. The workshop website will launch in January.
NSPA co-sponsors two National High School Journalism Conventions each school year and has been seeking to offer a cutting-edge summer workshop after discontinuing its summer workshop at the University of Minnesota. In 2017, most of the staffs participating in the Gloria Shields Workshop were NSPA members, with 13 Pacemaker-winning schools represented.
“Major changes are not planned for the Gloria Shields Workshop,” Widmer said. “Students and advisers love the workshop and NSPA is excited to join the workshop committee in continuing their tradition of excellence.”
From the beginning, the key to the workshop’s success has been the hands-on involvement of journalism advisers serving on the workshop’s planning committee.
In 1981, Shields created a one-day fall seminar to provide local journalism students with quality instruction without the cost of travel. Local advisers Jim Davidson and Jack Harkrider helped Shields plan the first event that featured nationally recognized advisers John Cutsinger and Bruce Watterson along with local advisers and journalists from The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald.
In 1984, the one-day seminar became a five-day summer workshop called the All-American High School Publications Workshop. Following Shields’ death in 1988, the workshop advisory committee named the workshop after her.
“Gloria was a force of nature. She had a way of getting people to do exactly what she wanted done,” said Mary Pulliam. “As a young adviser, it was a huge boost to my confidence that my mentor wanted me to be on her workshop faculty.” Pulliam, who retired after advising award-winning student publications at Duncanville (Texas) High School for 35 years, has been an active workshop leader from the beginning.
“Gloria would be thrilled at the success of the workshop. Her dream has become one of the top scholastic journalism workshops in nation,” Pulliam said.
C. Dow Tate, journalism instructor at Shawnee Mission East High School (Kansas), has directed the workshop for about 20 years.
“The Gloria Shields Workshop has a history of being a place where the best scholastic journalism schools in the country can come to be pushed to do superior work by the best workshop instructors in the country,” Tate said.
The Gloria Shields/NSPA Media Workshop Committee includes:
Alyssa Boehringer
Journalism instructor, McKinney High School, McKinney, Texas
Wade Kennedy
Journalism instructor, Richardson High School, Richardson, Texas
Gary Lundgren
Associate Director, National Scholastic Press Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mike McLean
Professional freelance photographer, Dallas, Texas
Chris Modrow
English instructor, Centennial High School, Frisco, Texas
Mark Murray
Director of Technical Services and Systems Integration, Arlington Independent School District, Arlington, Texas
Rebecca Pollard
Journalism instructor, Lovejoy High School, Lucas, Texas
Mary Pulliam
Retired journalism instructor, Duncanville High School, Duncanville, Texas
Margie Raper
Journalism instructor, Highland Park High School, Dallas, Texas
Dow Tate
Journalism instructor, Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village, Kansas
Laura Widmer
Executive Director, National Scholastic Press Association, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Recent Comments