Oglesbee Wins JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year
By Julianne Coyne | Thursday, January 21, 2010 11:23 AM
Although McKinney High School yearbook adviser Lori Oglesbee has been passionate about yearbook since high school, yearbook wasn’t Oglesbee’s first choice back then.
“I got on yearbook staff because I didn’t make the dance team,” Oglesbee said. “I’m pretty sure I couldn’t still be doing high kicks, but I’m still doing yearbook.”
What a lucky break for high school journalists.
While Oglesbee may have never perfected the high kick or any other dance move, she and her students are coming close to perfecting the yearbook.
“I absolutely love working on the yearbook and knowing kids achieve amazing things with the environment I provide,” she said.
In January, Oglesbee was “totally surprised” at the end of semester luncheon at her school where she was named the 2009 Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association. It is one of the highest honors a yearbook adviser can receive.
“It’s a good reason to evaluate where I’ve been and where I want to go,” she said. “I’m not done yet.”
Oglesbee is the first adviser from Texas to receive the honor.
“It’s too long in coming for a Texas teacher to be named Yearbook Adviser of the Year,” she said. “There are a dozen other teachers in the state who deserve this. I’m just lucky to be able to hang out with them.”
For more than 20 years, Oglesbee has guided her staffs to win Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Crown awards and National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker awards, not to mention just about every Texas yearbook award.
She also has garnered some of her own awards along the way. In 2005 she was named Texas journalism teacher of the year and in 2004, she was named a Distinguished Adviser by JEA.
“Simply stated, Lori is one of the best,” said Jeanne Acton, Interscholastic League Press Conference director. “Her staffs set the bar for yearbooks across the country. Those students didn’t walk into Lori’s class with those skills. She molded her kids into the best.”
As part of the award, McKinney High School’s yearbook program will receive $1,000 from JEA, and Oglesbee will be flown to Portland, Oregon to speak at the spring JEA convention.
“I want to make my speech something no one else has done before,” Oglesbee said.
Acton said she can only imagine what Oglesbee has in store for that audience.
“She will definitely have her audience captivated,” Acton said. “I am sure she will run the gamut of emotions from the extremely funny to the profoundly moving. She is an incredible, animated speaker, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she threw a few high kicks into her speech just to show that high school dance teacher that she still has some moves.”
Bobby Hawthorne, former ILPC director and the person who convinced Oglesbee to teach in Texas, said Oglesbee is always looking for new ways of teaching journalism.
“She’s one of a rare breed of advisers who is never satisfied with the status-quo, whether we’re talking about theory, curriculum or teaching methodology. She’s been at the cutting edge of these for many years and shows no hint of slowing down any time soon.”
One example of that dedication is Oglesbee’s Web site where she shares her lesson plans and PowerPoint presentations for anyone to use in the classroom.
“I hope it will inspire other advisers to create a lesson their kids will be wowed by,” Oglesbee said. “Hopefully advisers use them to get their staff going and then start making their own.”
The Texas Association of Journalism Educators executive director Rhonda Moore said Oglesbee definitely deserves the award.
“Her kids produce phenomenal work year in and year out,” Moore said. “That only happens with a great adviser. Kids are drawn to her because of her humor, and they want to do well because of her.”
Oglesbee credits part of her success to the advisers in Texas.
“How lucky are we to have all these great people who make journalism teaching easy?” Oglesbee said. “It’s hard not to be a good journalism adviser in Texas.”
As far as advice for journalism teachers, Oglesbee, who has never been at a loss for words, said this: “We have a great thing we can get kids to do. Demand excellence. Don’t settle. Take the time to do things right and don’t waste the time you have.”