Aug. 25 – Middle school yearbooks in Colorado are a national force, so the naming of Jed Palmer, adviser at Sierra Middle School in Parker, as the 2013 CHSPA Adviser of the Year is not surprising.
He is the first adviser from a middle school medium to receive this honor, and our 31st Adviser of the Year, an award that began in 1983.
Palmer is the adviser for the yearbook, broadcast and online news program at Sierra, where he has taught since 2002. He has taught classes in journalism, multimedia, desktop publishing, digital photography and basic computer skills. He has developed curriculum and course materials for five elective classes offered at nine Douglas County middle schools.
He is also department chair for arts and technical electives (an eight-member department), and provides front line tech support for 1100+ users and 450+ devices including Mac and Windows as CRT at his school.
Palmer was appointed as the CHSPA board’s first Middle School Coordinator in 2012, and was elected to that post in the 2013 board election.
He has attended fall and spring NSPA/JEA National Conventions since 2008, and presented a variety of presentations, including: Yearbook: Survive and Thrive, Size 7 Shoes, Photos in Five, The Shots YoubNeed, Bringing Home the Hardware, and Middle Madness.
He is a member of the JEA Middle School Commission
The Eagle Eye View yearbook has earned one National Pacemaker Award (2011), and was a finalist in 2013. The staff has produced several National Photograph of the Year finalists.
The book has earned two Gold Crowns and one Silver Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
The 2012 and 2013 volumes of the Eagle Eye View earned All-Colorado ratings, and the 2013 book was second place in J-Day Best of Show last fall, competing with 4A high schools.
“My priority as a journalism adviser,” wrote Palmer in his application, “is to give students a voice in their community. I am a strong advocate for the first amendment rights of student journalists. I think it is my job to give the students the instruction on skills that they need in order to be successful, to empower a student editorial board to be the driving force behind the publication and then the freedom to communicate about their own experiences. I am constantly looking for new ways for my students to be expressive. It is my goal to have every component of a publication be created by students; from idea to final print.”
Palmer will receive his Adviser of the Year award on Oct. 11, during the opening session of the 2013 J-Day fall conference, this year at Mountain Vista High School in Highlands Ranch.
