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LETTER FROM EDITOR
By Adrienne L . Forgette , MJE
T his past year , I have had the opportunity to participate in the Grosvenor Teacher Fellowship , a professional development opportunity celebrating geographic literacy . Outreach is an important part of the fellowship , so I am sharing what I learned aboard the National Geographic Endeavor in my “ The Value of Experiential Education ” piece on page 10 .
In the aftermath of the election , I have been thinking a lot about how to effectively encourage student journalists to step into the shoes of others through experiential education and how to nurture what David Brooks calls “ eulogy virtues ” instead of focusing just on what he calls “ resume virtues .”
Like most of us , I had read about the courage of The Playwickian editors from afar as it hit our Listserv and national news . In this issue , we hear from the former editorin-chief what it was like to challenge her administration by refusing to print the word “ redskin .” She also shares the current battles she faces as a collegiate journalist .
The image of Gillian McGoldrick shivering and shaking at the podium of her school standing up for ethical journalism makes me wonder about how many young journalists beginning their careers during the Trump presidency will choose to be as brave as Gillian was and stand up for their First Amendment rights when they continually see Trump bashing the media .
Dow Jones News Fund ’ s 2016 National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year , Lori Keekley , shared in her acceptance speech that she , too , believes we need to work to empower the voices of student journalists . Read her full speech on page 24 .
John and Candace Perkins Bowen remind us in their “ Press Rights Minute ” column that we should not change how we teach journalism in this era of fake news . The sound practices upon which we have built our programs create responsible journalists . Go to page 23 to see a list of 10 recommended issues on which to focus as we teach news literacy .
As always , if you have an idea for a story or would like to recommend a student to be featured in our “ What I Wish I Had Known ” column , please reach out to me via email .
~ Adrienne Forgette Editor-in-Chief
Adrienne Forgette is the Media Arts Director at the Darlington School in Rome , Georgia , where she advises the Jabberwokk yearbook , Darlingtonian online newspaper and Inkslinger literary magazine . Forgette was recently named a 2016 Lindblad Expedition and National Geographic Grosvenor Teacher Fellow . She holds a B . A . from Colgate University and an M . A . from the University of Maryland , College Park .