2015-17 TAJE Officer Candidates
President-Elect
Margie Raper
Wakeland HS
Subjects taught: Photojournalism,
Journalism, Adv Journalism/Publications, Independent Study
in Journalism
Years experience: 11 years
experience
Goals
for
TAJE: My goal
for TAJE is to
be the professional learning
Margie Raper
c o m m u n i t y,
advocate and
cheerleader for advisers so in turn
they can help their students grow
and succeed in scholastic journalism.
Treasurer
Rebecca Potter
Texas HS
Subjects taught: Yearbook, newspaper, journalism, photojournalism
Years experience: 18 years
Goals for TAJE: As treasurer of
TAJE, I would
like to work
with the other
officers to create a budget
that ensures that
the
organization stays financially solvent.
I would also
strive to prepare
Rebecca Potter
more detailed
financial reports
so that our members are better informed about our finances in an effort to be more transparent. I will
continue our efforts to make more
teachers aware of TAJE, its resources and the opportunities it provides
through contests, the convention
and mentoring.
Secretary
Alyssa Boehringer
McKinney HS
Subjects taught: Audio Video Production, Advanced Audio Video Production
Years experience: 10 years
Goals for TAJE: Increase membership
by developing
new programs
for conventions
and
summer
workshops centered around the
advancement
of multimedia
and technology.
Provide support
for journalism
Alyssa
teachers to build
Boehringer
quality
programs and foster positive relationships with their students and communities.
Toni Marsh
Frisco HS
S u b j e c t s
taught: Journalism I, Photojournalism, and
Yearbook
Years
experience: 26 years
teaching expeToni Marsh
rience; 17 years
teaching journalism/yearbook/photojournalism
Goals for TAJE: My goals for TAJE are
to be a user-friendly resource to help
journalism educators become better
and more effective educators through
all sorts of materials to facilitate 21st
Century learning. I would like to see
TAJE become like some of the other
professional organizations, and I
would like to see us reach out and get
every journalism teacher involved. I
would also like to see us help the middle school yearbook teacher so we can
keep the students he/she has stay in
journalism programs.
Kari Riemer
Hendrickson HS
Subjects taught: Newspaper, Yearbook, Photojournalism, Journalism 1
Years experience: 27 years
Goals for TAJE: Throughout my journalism teaching career, I have come to
rely on both the
training and camaraderie that
TAJE provides. I
feel it is time for
me to give back
to the organization to continue
the work that
has been done.
My main goals
Kari Riemer
for office would
be to maintain
the stability of the organization and
to continue providing great resources,
training and opportunities for Texas
journalism advisers and students.
Voting will be done online.
An email with a personalized link to the
election site will be sent out Feb. 1. Voting must
be completed by the end of the day Feb. 7.
State Director
Andrea Negri
Alief Hastings HS
Subjects taught: Journalism, Photojournalism, Newspaper, Yearbook,
Commercial Photography
Years experience: 6 years
Goals for TAJE: One goal would
be to continue to work on growing
TAJE’s membership. TAJE offers its
members a lot of
things – such as
Fall Fiesta, clip
contests
and
scholarships.
However, there
are many advisers out there
that choose to
not join the organization. We
Andrea Negri
need to determine if it is because they don’t know
about TAJE and what it is for, or if
they don’t feel membership – and
what comes with it – is worthwhile.
Another goal is to ensure the organization is a valuable resource for both
new teachers and veteran teachers,
whether it is through offering support during challenging situations
or answering questions about course
content, technology, budgeting or
other concerns unique to scholastic
journalism. New advisers do not always have a journalism background,
and it is important that TAJE is there
to help them develop strong programs.
My final goal would be for TAJE to be
an advocate for journalism teachers
across the state when major changes
are under consideration, such as the
new graduation plans last year or the
revisions to the TEKS a few years ago.
Many content-specific organizations
do this on behalf of their members.
This could help boost recognition and
awareness of what TAJE is and why
scholastic journalism is important.
Rebecca Plumley
Stony Point HS
Subjects taught:
Advanced Journalism Yearbook,
Advanced Journalism Newspaper, Photojournalism 1, Journalism
1
Years experience:
17
Rebecca
Goals for TAJE:
Plumley
Adjustments in
curriculum/testing standards and new
developments in technology have been
driving forces for change in journalism
education. This change has not necessarily been easy, as it has required
teachers to create new instructional
materials, learn new ways of publishing and embrace new technology. As
state director, I’d like to make it easier
for teachers to use community resources rather than face challenges alone.
My goal would be to offer advisers
easy to access information that keeps
them up to date, explains the impact of
new advancements and provides time
saving resources.
Michael Reeves
James Bowie HS
Subjects taught: Graphic Design and
Illustration for Photojournalism, Advance Graphic Design and Illustration for Newspaper, Newspaper 3/
Problems and Solutions 1, Newspaper 4/Problems and Solutions 2, Journalism 1, Commercial Photography,
Advance Commercial Photography/
Problems and Solutions 1
Years experience : 11 years teaching,
10 years as a publication adviser.
Goals for TAJE:
I would like to
see the organization continue its
work supporting high school
journalism
teachers in Texas
with an emphasis on building a
strong relation- Michael Reeves
ship
between
both ILPC and the various national
organizations. I am running for the
state director position because I am
interested in helping prepare the
teachers in our state for the national
convention which will be held in Dallas in 2017. I attended JEA national
conventions as a student, and the
event held in San Antonio two years
ago was such an important moment
for my students that I want others
to experience how impactful conventions are to their students and to
scholastic journalism as a whole. Specifically, I want to work with TAJE advisers who are feeling overwhelmed
about attending conferences, or who
feel that they cannot afford to attend
overcome these obstacles. I believe
that in my role as state director I can
facilitate and lead others to achieve
those objectives.