You can only do what you can do.
So do that, and then be OK with
it. When you can, reflect on where
you’re at, what you have done,
and what needs to be done to get
better -- and then do some of that.
Do. Reflect. Improve. Repeat. Get
a mentor. Eventually, help others.
And try to stick with us for the long
haul. We need committed advisers
who are in it for a career, and not
just for a short season.
(Finally, in a real pinch -- have a
glass of wine when you get home.
Try my current fave, the Chateau
Ste. Michelle Riesling by Columbia
Valley. Under $10 a bottle at
Costco. You are welcome.)
Karl Grubaugh
2008 DJNF TOY
Be a coach, but do not be a player.
The publications belong to the
students. Let them do the work.
It is difficult for some advisers to
grasp that concept. A basketball
coach can’t go on the floor and
make plays for his or her team.
Neither should an adviser make
plays for his or her journalistic
team. Teach the students their
rights and responsibilities. Help
them take pride in their work.
H.L. Hall
1982 DJNF TOY
Take what you are given and make
the best happen with it that you
can, then push for a little more.
have always thought there are
two types of people in the world:
people who make it happen and
and people who make excuses for
why it can’t happen. When you are
like the latter, you are wasting your
energy and going nowhere. But
when you are making it happen,
kids sense your passion and
commitment and they like to be
surrounded by people like that.
Set the bar high for yourself and
your students, and push to go
just beyond that bar, even you.
Challenge yourself to be a lifelong
learner alongside your students.
Don’t be afraid to explore the
unknown because you don’t
feel secure enough to teach
something. Take a leap into the
unknown with them and know
that’s it earns respect from the
kids when you let them know it is
okay to not know everything as a
teacher.
Val Kibler
2010 DJNF TOY
In my DJNF acceptance, I offered
this advice:
Listen to your readers. Without
them you do not exist.
Listen to your colleagues. Your
success depends on “playing well”
with others.
Listen to your reason. Make
the right decisions for the right
reasons.
Listen to your heart. Care and
concern work magic.
ending days of the school year
and not panic when senioritis or
even junioritis sets in. Be proactive.
Start planning for the next staff
and year. Have brown bag lunches
or buy pizza, prepare a media kit
so the new staff can sell ads in
the summer, work on an updated
staff manual, make sure all staffers
have contact information of each
other, and the adviser as well. Set
up an extra email account so your
personal email is different from the
staff one. Put the returning staff
in charge of the last issues so the
seniors can mentor them without
being responsible for the last
issues, pages or broadcasts.
Dr. Alyce Culpepper
1986 DJNF TOY
Remember, as adviser, your role
is not to do or to decide. it is to
support, to model, to encourage,
to challenge, to question and,
among so many more roles, to
let students learn from being
responsible for their student
media.
It might be hard at times,
uncomfortable at times.
Performing those roles are the
most important things you can
ever do as advisers.
John Bowen
1983 DJNF TOY
John Cutsinger
1987 DJNF TOY
I think it is important to keep your
sense of humor throughout the
Do not wait to get even the rawest
and newest kids out reporting
stories. There is a lot to know to
become a strong journalist, lots of
skills to develop. But if we are not