Dvorak accepts Towley Award;
calls advisers his 'adult heroes'

By Jack Dvorak

    Thank you so much. It’s great to be here with my JEA family and to share this
award with you.
    Today I’d like to talk about my heroes. I guess we’ve all had them in our lives. As a little kid at my grandparents’ cabin on a Minnesota lake, my hero was Ben Darby, the big teen-ager with the ski boat and the bronze tan. As a 12-year old baseball player, my hero was New York Yankee centerfielder Mickey Mantle. As an 8th grader, my hero was Sister Bernadette, a benevolent nun who put up with a feisty group of malcontents while actually teaching us some things about English, social studies, math – and life.
    As an adult, I’ve come to define my heroes a little differently. I’ll describe some of their characteristics based on some recent research I’ve done: on average, they’re 41 years old, they have 2.1 children (I’d hate to be that point 1, wouldn’t you?), they tend to be a little left center on a liberal-conservative scale, they tend to be women; they lean toward the Democratic party; they tend to be affiliated with organized religion; they work about 75 hours a week outside the home; and the kids they teach in language arts tend to outperform other kids in the school. Of course, my heroes are all of you – high school journalism teachers and advisers.
    Webster defines a hero as “the central figure in any important event or period, honored for outstanding qualities.” Aside from the demographic figures available, I’d like to highlight some of the outstanding qualities I see in today’s high school journalism educators that make you my heroes.

EDUCATORS ARE 'MULTI-TASKERS
    For one thing, you are multi-taskers. Besides teaching reading, writing, and the best of what language arts has to offer, you also have to teach design, advertising, business and computer technology. What other teacher in a school has to be so versatile?
    And then there’s fund-raising, especially if advertising, a school activity fee, or publications’ sales aren’t sufficient. Not many teachers have to worry about budgets the way you do in addition to their academic duties.
   And how about meeting deadlines? What other teachers, other than drama directors and band leaders, must worry about student academic deadlines on a regular basis?
    And throw in for good measure the constant interplay with other adults – printers, faculty, parents and administrators. As you know, these can be delicate relationships, and they can add great tension to a journalism educator’s life when they aren’t going well. What other teacher in the school must deal with these ongoing interplays? What other teachers teach about the Constitution and the First Amendment – and then see to it that their students actually put it into practice?
    And what about academic pressures? Few other teachers have to teach something and then regularly have student academic output evaluated by the entire school community. Students’ ideas, their art work, their photographs, their writing, their editing, their decision-making; their judgment is constantly out there for all in the school to see, to evaluate, to praise, and sometimes to condemn….and rightly or wrongly, it’s the journalism teacher-adviser who often bears the brunt of the criticism.

JOURNALISM EDUCATION IS ABOUT HEROISM
    Yes, the demands of the job are many. For these reasons alone you are my heroes.
But there are a few other things that come to mind as I contemplate the heroism attached to journalism education.
    Probably the most satisfying dimensions of the job – other than teaching so well the language arts and visual literacy components in the academic sphere – are the close relationships one is afforded with students. Unfortunately, in most school systems, we meet our students for a few periods every week – for a semester or two – and then the relationship ends. But you, my heroes, have made it a point to bond with your students during those often long production sessions before, during, and after school -- and on weekends. It’s a meaningful thing…and extremely satisfying. Indeed, you are my heroes because you love those kids, and in return -- though you don’t hear it much from them – they love you.
    I’m honored and humbled to accept this JEA award here in front of you, my heroes. We had a chance to socialize a bit, to share a meal, and to compare notes. During this weekend before Thanksgiving, I’d like to thank many people who have helped me as a high school and college journalism educator – my family; my colleagues; my past and present students; some wonderful administrators….too many people to name, especially for fear of leaving someone significant off the list.
    I’d like to thank you for doing such a wonderful job in the complex and challenging role you have as high school journalism educators. You are appreciated. And, like Ben Darby, Mickey Mantle and Sister Bernadette – heroes of my youth… you are the heroes of my adulthood.