Category: Faculty Advisor

Melissa Larson

MELISSA LARSON

Faculty Advisor

Melissa Larson is excited to return to WJMC for her 10th year as a Faculty Advisor for the Pink Group. Melissa taught technology, photography, and journalism for 14 years, before leaving the classroom to chase dreams, and is now working at Edpuzzle making educational videos. She advised yearbook and online publications which received numerous state and national awards. In 2014, she received the “Rising Star” Award from the Journalism Education Association. In 2013, she was recognized as one of nine Apple Award Finalists for Secondary Educator of the Year in the Douglas County School District. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, photography, reading, hiking, and traveling.

April van Buren

APRIL VAN BUREN

Faculty Advisor

April van Buren, M.J.E., advises yearbook, broadcast, a journalism website, and also teaches various digital media classes including graphic design and web design at East High School in Madison, Wisconsin. She has taught journalism for 18 years, including at Parkway Central High School near St. Louis, Missouri and at Mesa Vista Middle and High School in rural New Mexico. She has been an adjunct professor for the communications department at the University of New Mexico-Taos. From 2010 to 2013, she served as the New Mexico director for the Journalism Education Association (JEA) and as the vice president of the New Mexico Scholastic Press Association. She earned her National Board certification in language arts in 2012, and studied journalism, education and library sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She was the 2013 New Mexico Adviser of the Year and is currently on the Board for the Kettle Moraine Press Association and as the broadcast contest director for JEA.

Jeanette Neyman

Faculty Advisor

Jeanette Neyman is an award-winning student media adviser at West Johnston High School in North Carolina, where she oversees yearbook, broadcast, newspaper and a literary magazine. Her broadcast team is first in state for the past two years and earned an All North Carolina in 2016.

Neyman is originally from Southern California, where she received a BA in Journalism and a MA in Education, and wrote for several publications including the Los Angeles Times and Pro Rodeo Sports News.

In her free time she runs a community food pantry with her students, travels widely and is an avid road cyclist. She is excited to join the advisory staff for the first time this year, and is looking forward to sharing her passion for journalism with the Correspondents.

Jessica Young

JESSICA YOUNG

Faculty Advisor

Jessica Young is returning for another summer with the Washington Journalism and Media Conference. She teaches yearbook, journalism, photography, video production and graphic design at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, California. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and anthropology from San Diego State University and her master’s degree in education from University of California, San Diego. Outside the classroom, she serves as the vice president and communications chair for her school district’s teachers union. She is also the president of the San Diego Journalism Education Association and serves as the secretary for the Southern California Journalism Education Association. In addition to teaching, she also enjoys running, baking, watching baseball, putting glitter on things, and traveling. She has conquered the Original Marathon Greece, the Inca Trail in Peru, and the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC. She and her husband are on a quest to visit all the major league baseball stadiums across the country.

Abrianna Nelson

ABRIANNA NELSON

Faculty Advisor

Abrianna Nelson, CJE, teaches journalism and advises newspaper, yearbook, broadcast, and literary magazine at Washington-Liberty High School in Arlington, Va. She also serves as a Curriculum Coordinator for the Journalism Education Association’s Curriculum Initiative; previously she served as the Entrepreneurship Module Leader from 2013-2017. Additionally, Nelson previously advised newspaper and yearbook at Pleasant Ridge High School in Easton, Kan from 2011-2014. She majored in journalism and history at Washington and Lee University and interned with the Fairfax County Times and USA Today. Nelson also holds an M.A.Ed. in Education from The College of William and Mary and an Ed.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia. Her specialties include web-based journalism and social media. In her free time, Nelson enjoys creative writing, binge-watching, rock climbing, and triathlon training.

Katie Fletcher

KATIE FLETCHER

Faculty Advisor

Katie (Fletch) is a proud native Texan with a BA in political science and English from Texas Tech University. She teaches in a small town and is the sole member of the fine arts department at her school, where she oversees the production of the yearbook, the coordination of photography, teaches all art courses, and is in her 15th year of instructing journalism. Katie advises student council, fostering leadership skills and encouraging meaningful contributions to both the school and the community. She is passionate about the leadership development supported by both student council and WJMC, and she finds fulfillment in watching her students grow and succeed. Katie enjoys spending time with her family, photography, reading, attending concerts, following sports, playing spades, and traveling. She is thrilled to return to WJMC!

Justin Turner

JUSTIN TURNER

Faculty Advisor

Justin Turner has taught journalism and advised yearbooks, newspapers, and literary magazines for 15 years. In that time he’s found his passion: supporting students, the 1st amendment, and the power of those two things together. Justin’s staffs have won numerous state and national awards including gold medals, first divisions, individual write off awards, Arkansas’s top honor, the All-Arkansas award, and has placed in the top 10 best of show at a JEA/NSPA convention. Justin was named the 2020 Arkansas Adviser of the Year. He’s lost count of how many WJMC sessions he’s been able to attend, but each one has made for an amazing summer!

Hillary DeVoss

Faculty Advisor

Hillary DeVoss is excited to be spending her fourth summer at WJMC. For the past year, she’s been building a journalism program from the ground up at University Prep Science & Math High School in Detroit. Before moving to Michigan, she spent 14 years as the newspaper, yearbook and online media adviser at Omaha North High Magnet School, where her students earned honors at the local, state and national levels. She’s achieved Master Journalism Educator status from the Journalism Education Association and currently serves on its Scholastic Press Rights Commission. In her spare time, she loves to blog about free-speech legislation and the general awesomeness of student journalists. When she’s not thinking about journalism, she’s likely hanging out with her husband and cat-children, kayaking down a really slow river, or following her favorite sports teams. She can’t wait to meet the new correspondents and see them take advantage of all that WJMC has to offer!

Teresa Scribner

Faculty Advisor

Teresa Scribner is an award-winning media teacher at Cleveland STEM High School in Seattle, Wash. Scribner teaches multimedia, graphic arts and is the adviser for Cleveland Publications, which oversees the production of the school’s yearbook, newspaper, news broadcast and website. Under her leadership, the program has won numerous awards for photography and design.

In 2016, Scribner was named Washington state’s Journalism Adviser of the Year and was a Dow Jones News Fund Special Recognition Adviser. She was one of 13 journalism teachers from around the country to receive the Journalism Education Association’s Rising Star Award. For the past year, she has been a voice in the community, speaking about the importance of diversity in journalism. She spends countless hours mentoring students of color in her school.

Before becoming a teacher, Scribner spent 12 years as a Visual Journalist for The Seattle Times and 6 years at newspapers in Texas and Arkansas.

Samantha Shaw

SAMANTHA SHAW

Faculty Advisor, WJMC Alum 2016

Samantha earned her B.A. in English and comparative literature and M.A. in teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was named Student Teacher of the Year in 2022. Now, she teaches English and has started a journalism program at Carrboro High School. In 2023-24 she was recognized as the runner up Beginning Teacher of the Year for the state of North Carolina. Sam loves inviting students’ passions into a project based and equity focused classroom. It’s true: words have the power to change us — whether that’s a potent literary work or the unique power of the press. Her teaching has been inspired by her experiences at WJMC. She is a WJMC 2016 alumna, worked as an intern and a JFA; she’s ecstatic to be back for her third year as an FA! When she’s not in the classroom, Sam is managing social media or editing books for the author Katie Cross, listening to audiobooks, or going on hikes with her fiancé.