Two students — one in a graduate program and the other planning to finish her undergraduate studies in 2020 — are this year’s recipients of the Future Journalism Teacher Scholarships. Each will receive $1,000 from the national Journalism Education Association to help them earn their degrees.
The award recipients are Andrea Negri, MJE, graduate student in journalism education at Kent (Ohio) State University, and Jordan MacMillan, senior in journalism education at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.
Negri is from Houston and switched her career plans from the copy desk to the journalism classroom after an internship with University Interscholastic League/Interscholastic League Press Conference put her in contact with high school journalism programs. She wrote that she saw “the great potential and passion high school journalists have” and wanted to be involved with that. After nine years’ teaching, she went back to get her master’s in journalism education because “I want to be a better teacher for my students and a better helper to other advisers.”
Jeanne Acton, ILPC director, and Negri’s “boss” when she was an intern, had nothing but praise for her and her varied and important contributions to Texas high school journalism activities. Acton wrote in her recommendation letter, “Andrea hasn’t figured out the word ‘no’ yet, and I hope she doesn’t for a long time.”
Negri is a yearbook adviser at Bellaire High School in Texas.
MacMillan, Indianapolis, Indiana, wrote in her application that she “exhausted all the journalism classes my (high) school had to offer,” starting as a freshman and ending as yearbook photo editor her junior year and newspaper editor-in-chief as a senior.
When MacMillan volunteered to work at Ball State’s Journalism Day and help in the workshops, Kim Green, MJE, outreach and engagement coordinator who runs those events, offered her a paid position. “It was one of the best decisions I ever made,” Green said, calling her a “natural teacher” and adding, “She just gets it.” And MacMillan proved that by writing, “Journalism is a perfect platform for teaching students the importance of applying their knowledge and skills to real-life scenarios and occupations.”
Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE, JEA past president, chairs this scholarship committee. Those who selected the recipients this year were Susan Tantillo, MJE, past JEA board member and adjunct university journalism instructor, and former recipient of the award Maggie Cogar, CJE, professional instructor and student media adviser at Ashland University.
Founded in 1924, JEA supports free and responsible scholastic journalism by providing resources and educational opportunities, by promoting professionalism, by encouraging and rewarding student excellence and teacher achievement, and by fostering an atmosphere which encompasses diversity yet builds unity. It is headquartered at Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas.
Connie Fulkerson