THE UNTAPPED RESOURCE:
Scholastic Media Alumni
THE QUESTION FOR ALL SUCCESSFUL MEDIA STAFFS: HOW CAN ALUMNI PAY BACK
THEIR APPRECIATION FOR WAYS JOURNALISM CONTRIBUTED TO A COMPLETE
EDUCATION IN HIGH SCHOOL? HOW CAN THEY MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW?
By Howard Spanogle
W
hat did the adviser
learn? Two Chicago
alumnae, artist Julie
Murphy, 1989, and
attorney Anastasia Katinas,
1988, initiated the energizing
idea and kidnapped me, their
loyal adviser who was the
only omniscient source. At
the first planning meeting
on Sept. 15, 2013, Chicago
architect Pam Hutter, 1979,
added an important impetus
with her dream: “We have
all of this energy emerging
instantly. We need to do
something for the nation.”
That statement led to a major
goal: Donating money from
alumni to the Student Press
Law Center, an important
support force of the Glenbard
East Echo (Lombard, Illinois)
from 1976 through 1993, the
year I retired.
Most of all, I learned how
much students value
journalism education. Though
we had no alumni records
and all the annual bound
volumes had disappeared
from the school, our lead
researcher, Ray Cubberley,
1971, a videography
marketing specialist at
Purdue University, found all
but 34 of the 325 editors/
leaders plus more than 100
additional staff members.
Hundreds attended even
though most had no Echo
contact for decades. Dozens
apologized because they
could not attend.
As sponsors, they donated
more than $15,000 to
Student Press Law Center.
As celebrants, they laughed,
hugged and marveled at the
experience of becoming one
Echo staff at the EchoXtra
May 2, 2015, celebration at
the McCormick Foundation
location: Cantigny in
Wheaton, Illinois. They
represented every year of my
Illinois adviser life and came
from states coast to coast
plus Manila. The magnet was
a powerful echo they still
value.
ALUMNI WITH VISION
To make that happen for hundreds of
staffs, there is still so much work to
do — work that includes stewardship
of responsibility to maintain
connections with alumni. The extra
effort could provide support for an
ongoing and ever-expanding media
lab for current students. Rather than
ignoring alumni, advisers can regard
them as a professional resource to
safeguard and to strengthen current
media efforts.
Who are these people who can add
energetic support for the future of
media training programs? They are
doctors, attorneys and business
executives. But they are also
Environmental Protection Agency
program directors, national survey
specialists and computer game
developers. For sure they are vice
presidents of development, vice
presidents of college connections and
professors of new fields of journalism
as well as freelance artists, high school
coordinators of social programs and
executive directors of community art
organizations.