Yearbook Chat with Jim

Welcome to another exciting Adviser of Note episode of "Yearbook Chat with Jim." In this episode, Jim Jordan talks with the legendary Brit Taylor, CJE, a star of Florida scholastic journalism with 30 years of experience at Hagerty High School in Oviedo, Florida. Brit is a passionate educator, dedicated to helping high school students grow and thrive in the world of publications. Brit sha...

In the world of yearbooks, Susan Massy is a pretty big deal. Her program at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas, is NSPA’s most-winning program of their prestigious Pacemaker awards. Susan herself has received the JEA Lifetime Achievement Award, CSPA’s Gold Key, and was the 1999 National Yearbook Adviser of the Year. The Kansas High School Press Association has even dubb...

Jim McCrossen is a mild-mannered yearbook adviser at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas. Behind his gentle demeanor is a person with a wealth of interesting life experiences and a passion for making the world a better place. One way he works to improve the world around him is through his role as a teacher and scholastic journalism adviser. After working as a photojournalist...

In this episode, Jim chats with Tucker Love, from Shawnee Mission South High School in Shawnee, Kansas. Tucker is in his fifth year of advising the Heritage yearbook, and his staff were recently named NSPA Pacemaker Award finalists. 

In this episode, host Jim Jordan chats with April van Buren, from Madison East High School in Madison, Wisconsin. April was named an NSPA Pioneer in 2022, NSPA awards to journalism educators who make substantial contributions to high school journalism programs and scholastic journalism education outside their primary employment. They discuss April’s journey as an educator, how she finds success at...

In this episode, Jim Jordan chats with Ben Langevin, the yearbook adviser at Oviedo High School in Oviedo, Florida. Ben was recently named a JEA Rising Star and his staff published an especially noteworthy yearbook in 2022. 

Welcome to the sixth season of  Yearbook Chat with Jim ! In this season premiere, host Jim Jordan chats with Gary Lundgren, from the National Scholastic Press Association, about the state of yearbooks and scholastic journalism. 

Jason Davis has had quite the journey. He grew up in Minnesota, but now lives in Arizona. His first job was as a fry cook in his family's restaurant, then as a professional journalist, and now is a teacher. He had no yearbook experience when he started advising, but how has one of the best middle school/junior high yearbook programs in the country.  In this episode, Jason chats with Jim Jorda...

Host Jim Jordan recently discovered that seven of the JEA State Journalists of the Year winners all have yearbook in their resumes AND their schools published their books with Walsworth Yearbooks. He believes strongly that yearbook students are also true scholastic journalists – just as much as newspaper, online and broadcast – and deserve this kind of recognition.  On this episode, Jim chats with...

Host Jim Jordan recently discovered that six of the JEA State Journalists of the Year winners all have yearbook in their resumes AND their schools published their books with Walsworth Yearbooks. He believes strongly that yearbook students are also true scholastic journalists – just as much as newspaper, online and broadcast – and deserve this kind of recognition.  On this episode, Jim chats with t...

Monica Rodriguez – known to her students as M-rod – is the yearbook adviser at Gulliver Preparatory Upper School in Pinecrest, Florida. All of Monica's three staffs – the Reflections literary magazine, the Raider Voice news and and print magazine, and the Raider yearbook – received Crown and Pacemaker Finalist recognition in 2021. It's particularly exciting as this is the first time the...

When NSPA announced the three 2021 recipients of their prestigious Pioneer Award and Jim saw long-time friend Leland Mallett on the list, he knew he wanted Leland to come on the podcast again. In this episode, Jim and Leland chat about what this award means to Leland, how the yearbook world has changed over his 22-year career, and what the last two years have been like while they produced a yearbo...

When JEA announced their 2021 Rising Stars and three Walsworth Yearbooks advisers were on the list, Jim Jordan knew he had to get them on his podcast. His third and final interview was with Carly Gates, from Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. If you haven't already, be sure to check out the previous interviews with Rising Stars Laurel Wicke and Joanna Chadwi...

When JEA announced their 2021 Rising Stars and three Walsworth Yearbooks advisers were on the list, Jim Jordan knew he had to get them on his podcast. His second interview was with Joanna Chadwick, the yearbook adviser at Derby High School in Derby, Kansas.  If you haven't already, be sure to check out the previous interview with Rising Star Laurel Wicke, and stay tuned for the third and fina...

When JEA announced their 2021 Rising Stars and three Walsworth Yearbooks advisers were on the list, Jim Jordan knew he had to get them on his podcast. His first interview was with Laurel Wicke, the yearbook adviser at Drake Middle School in Arvada, Colorado.  Stay tuned this week for interviews with two more JEA Rising Stars. 

Karen Johnson, MJE, always knew she wanted to be a teacher and a coach. When she started college, she realized that social studies (which often seems to go hand-in-hand with coaching) wasn't really for her. It wasn't long before she switched to English, then added a journalism minor. Since then, she's been a yearbook adviser at tiny schools and at large schools. She's working o...

Bobby Hawthorne is a master storyteller and journalist. He's well known in the scholastic journalism world, and can frequently be found teaching at journalism workshops and seminars. In this episode, Hawthorne and your host, Jim Jordan, share what it takes to be a good journalist and tell a great story in your yearbook.  You can find more episodes of  Yearbook Chat with Jim  on the Walsworth...

Elizabeth Luna sort of happened into graphic design, then wanted more, and now she's the yearbook adviser at a school that just won its first Pacemaker. She shared their journey over the last several years, and what it's like being the adviser of a small yearbook program.  You can read more about this Adviser of Note on our blog . 

Here it is! The official 50th episode! And what a great person to interview.  Ronna Sparks-Woodward loves yearbooks. She knew while she was still in high school that she wanted to be a teacher, and specifically that she wanted to be a yearbook adviser.  She has turned her passion for a yearbooks into a career, and shares the insights she's gained on this 50th episode of "Yearbook Chat wi...

It's our 50th episode! Today, we're sharing a mini-episode to reflect on where this podcast has taken us since we launched in 2018.  Thank you to everyone who has been on this podcast journey with Jim and the Walsworth Yearbooks Podcast Network. 

A few weeks ago, host Jim Jordan read two articles on the Walsworth Yearbooks blog about covering controversial topics in a yearbook. Those two articles were written by a father/daughter yearbook team, which sparked the idea for this episode.  Jim Jordan was a yearbook adviser for 35 years, and during that time all three of his children were on his staff. So he decided to reach out to the authors...

In this extra special episode, Ask Mike and Yearbook Chat with Jim team up to talk about promoting your yearbook! Hosts Mike Taylor, CJE, and Jim Jordan are joined by three members of the Walsworth marketing team, Jenica Hallman, CJE, Jimmy Gilligan and Sarah Scott. They share tips for writing press releases, ideas for promoting your yearbook, and why you want to promote your 2021 yearbook more th...

Tiffany Kopcak was recently named JEA's H.L. Hall Yearbook Adviser of the Year Special Recognition Adviser. Her staff's 2020 yearbook was one of host Jim Jordan's favorite volumes, and they're known for their willingness to go in new directions for coverage and design. Listen in to hear more about her love of her home state Virginia and how her yearbook staff has been working t...

Patty Gomez has led an interesting life, and it's given her a unique perspective on education. She is the yearbook adviser at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and was recently named a JEA Rising Star for her commitment to scholastic journalism. In this interview, Patty shares a little bit about growing up in Venezuela, her work in chemistry, and why it's so important to bal...

For the first episode of 2021, host Jim Jordan interviews JEA Rising Star Heather Rice, from One School of the Arts in Longwood, Florida. Rising Star trophies are awarded to advisers who are in their first five years of advising and have shown great dedication to scholastic journalism. Heather took over a yearbook program that had previously been run by parents, and in only five years helped bring...