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January 2011
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From Journalism to Secondary Education
Four Graduates Share Their Passion for Journalism with High School Students
By Kristen Bereswill
Strategic Communication Student
Minerva Spalding Howard, Julie Lewis, Karl Grubaugh and Paul Kandell planned to be reporting the news after graduating from the Missouri School of Journalism. But over time, they learned journalists and journalism teachers share many of the same responsibilities: obeying deadlines, producing publications and always being accurate. As journalism educators, these alumni influence the lives of high school students daily by sharing their passion for journalism and teaching their students through the Missouri Method.
Howard, BJ '52, found her way to teaching almost 20 years after graduating from MU. She was working on a story about local schools in the Chicago area and wanted to gain firsthand knowledge about what went on in the classroom.
"I started substituting at a school for a story, but I really got caught up with these youngsters," she says.
She realized her passion for teaching and returned to MU to earn her master's in education, with the goal of being a social studies teacher. But while she was taking classes, Hickman High School offered her the position of the journalism teacher. She accepted.
Lewis, BJ '01, took a path similar to Howard's. She started her career as a reporter at the Wichita (Kan.) Eagle and Sedalia (Mo.) Democrat newspapers. While covering the education beat for each, she was impressed by the accounts of how teachers make a difference in the lives of their students. During one interview with a principal, he suggested she try out substitute teaching.
"I haven't looked back," she says.
Grubaugh, MA '00, started his career as a teacher and also freelanced for the Santa Cruz (Calif.) Sentinel. After earning his bachelor's degree in social sciences from Sacramento State University, he decided to pursue a master's degree in journalism at MU. Grubaugh's background in teaching and writing qualified him to work as assistant sports editor of the Columbia Missourian when he started his coursework. But, before completing his degree, Grubaugh moved back to California to pursue a career as a high school journalism teacher. He finished his master's in 2000 and is currently the journalism teacher at Granite Bay High School.
Karl Grubaugh congratulates Paul Kandell on winning the Dow Jones National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Award on Nov. 13 in Washington, D.C. Both Grubaugh and Kandell take the Missouri Method into their high school journalism classrooms in California. Photo: Marshall J. Kandell.
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Julie Lewis helps broadcast journalism student Josh Pfaff edit his story for the upcoming news-magazine broadcast at Warrensburg High School. "I like how Mrs. Lewis pushes our class to be a real TV broadcast," Pfaff says. "She always makes sure that we make our deadlines and get our stories right." Pfaff believes his foundation in journalism will help him to pursue broadcasting in college. Photo: Austin Griffis.
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Kandell, MA '92, worked as a stringer for Newsweek on the West Coast before pursuing a career as a high school journalism teacher. He realized he would need to move to New York if his career in magazine journalism were to thrive, but he had no desire to relocate. Kandell thought getting his teaching credentials would bring job stability to his life. He landed a position as a journalism adviser at Lowell High School in San Francisco and worked there for four and a half years before switching to Palo Alto High School, where he currently teaches.
These teachers all have one thing in common: They took the Missouri Method and brought it into their classrooms to help high school students learn true journalism. A mixture of theory and practice brings the Missouri Method to life, and these alumni teach this mixture in high school yearbook, newspaper, broadcast and photojournalism classes.
"There are two ways to learn how to do journalism: You can sit in the classroom and talk about the theory of how it is done, or you can do it," Grubaugh says. "What Missouri does best is they do both."
Recent Dow Jones National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year wins have proven the success of the Missouri Method at the high school level. In both 2008 and 2009 Missouri graduates - Grubaugh and Kandell - won the title.
It was an added bonus for Grubaugh to accept the award only two hours from where he learned the journalism tactics that he has passed on to his students.
"First, it was an amazing affirmation of what I tried to do for more than a decade," Grubaugh says. "That award is judged by people in the field I respect very much. Some of the best advisers are part of that process. Plus, I officially started the tenure of that year at the national conference in St. Louis, so I was in Missouri to give my speech and receive the award."
Kandell also feels the award was a validation of the effort he puts into his journalism program.
"It was a great opportunity for me to travel around the country to talk with other advisers and students about high school journalism and the issues that we face," he says. "It was exciting in that particular year because there was so much happening, in terms of the transition to the digital environment."
That digital environment is present in his teaching, too. Kandell works with about 30 students to produce the Paly Voice, a journalism website of stories written by his staff members and other school-run publications.
"We have daily uploads in a variety of media at a pace that is spectacular," he says. "There is always something going up on the site."
Grubaugh practices the Missouri Method through a structured schedule at Granite Bay High School's newspaper, the Gazette, which has an estimated pass-along readership of a few thousand.
"On Mondays, we meet in a regular classroom instead of a publication lab for about 30 minutes," he says. "That's when we deal with theory, philosophy or whatever the issues might be. The other days of the week we put out a terrific newspaper."
Lewis, who teaches at Warrensburg High School in Warrensburg, Mo., also believes in framing her yearbook and broadcast classes the way an actual publication is produced because she wants her students to complete meaningful work.
"I push my journalism classes to be real, in the sense that we still have deadlines, we still air and we still publish in the same way we would if we were anywhere else," she says. "I make it as real and as authentic as possible and help these kids prepare for the real world."
For many years, Howard, who is now retired, passed on to students the values she learned at the Missouri School of Journalism. She wanted her students to always remember the importance of responsible journalism.
"Accuracy, honesty - with sources, yourself and editors - and a real respect for the profession of journalism," are keys for high schoolers to learn, she says. "You can't have a free society without journalistic freedom."
In addition to personal recognition, these alumni are rewarded by the success of their students. Lewis feels proud and gratified when a student goes on to Missouri for the same training and experiences she received.
"That's one of the coolest things," she says. "One of my first editor-in-chiefs, Abby Ray, graduated last May and invited me to her graduation ceremony. Honestly, it brought a tear to my eye. She was one of my first editors when I was in a program, and we were building it together."
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