Following her fourth year of teaching Bear River High School’s nationally recognized journalism program, Online Multimedia teacher Christina Levinson received the Journalism Association Education (JEA) Rising Star Award, an accolade for an advisor in their first five years that exemplifies dedication and success in overseeing at least one media program.
“Entries are evaluated by a national panel of journalism educators consisting of the JEA Awards Committee,” per jea.org. “JEA will present each winner with a trophy at the JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention. Several awards may be presented each year.”
The Fall National High School Journalism Convention is scheduled to be held in Orlando, Florida from November 19 through November 22.
Former Executive Editor of the BRCurrent and National Convention award winner Sonora Slater commented on her experiences in Mrs. Levinson’s journalism class.
“I was in the journalism program for three years,” she said. “I gained lots of first hand reporting experience on everything from trivial articles about school dances to deeper investigative pieces. I also gained leadership and communication skills, and practical resume building abilities such as use of video editing and audio editing programs.”
Returning journalism class member and Sophomore Lorali Thomas reflected on her first year in Mrs. Levinson’s class.
“I’ve always had the best time in journalism,” she said. “I made a lot of new friends there and we always had a good time and a good laugh with memories I’ll never forget. I learned how to voice my opinion, and new ways to look at things in life. She’s done a lot making sure that our school is up to date on stories and making sure students are always informed and always making our yearbooks super cool. ”
Current Executive Editor Annabelle Owyoung had a great deal of pride for her teacher’s accomplishments.
“Mrs. Levinson has a way of making boring or repetitive lessons fun and engaging for the students which is one of the reasons why I believe she is such a great teacher,” she said. “I’ve been in journalism since my freshman year and have reviewed the same beginning of the year information about AP style and what our program is. I’m surprised that I haven’t gotten bored yet. She always has something up her sleeve. She deserves this award, reflecting the immense effort and devotion she had shown to the program.”
One of the things most essential to journalism is the first amendment: freedom of speech.
“Through journalism, I’ve developed a sincere and deep respect for my first amendment rights, as nerdy and boring as that sounds,” said Owyoung. “I’ve never really noticed how the majority of our lifestyles are based upon our first amendment right until I joined journalism.”
Slater held a similar passion for the opinions of all.
“Mrs. Levinson is very outspoken about giving her students a voice and a platform, and believes that student opinions deserve to be heard,” she said. “You have to be willing to learn from other people and take their thoughts under consideration, regardless of your personal feelings towards them or their general ideologies.”
