Teacher Receives Journalism Education Association “Rising Star Award”

Abrianna Nelson, CJE, has had a whirlwind career as a journalism teacher and adviser since she began back in 2011. After a short hiatus from the journalism classroom, she returned to advising, all while staying dedicated to her responsibilities to give back to scholastic journalism. “I wrote the original iteration of the Entrepreneurship (now Marketing and Audience Engagement) module for the JEA Curriculum Initiative and served as the curriculum module leader for Entrepreneurship from 2013-2017,” Nelson said. “I have continued to manage the WordPress site for the Curriculum Initiative as a curriculum coordinator since 2017 along with advisers Shari Adwers and Megan Fromm.”

Nelson shows dedication to the power of scholastic journalism in her own school, too, working to build up the program in any way she can. “She belongs in the journalism classroom, the publications lab, anywhere she can empower students to use their voices and tell their truths,” said Erinn Harris, MJE, of Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology, Alexandria, Virginia. “We’ve had many conversations about staff leadership and organization. About lesson plan and story ideas. Through all these conversations, I remain impressed. She even gave a journalism presentation in Spanish to her school’s Hispanic achievement group in an effort to recruit students that more accurately reflect the demographics of the school.”

Content pulled from JEA Website: https://jea.org/wp/blog/2019/08/21/2019-rising-star-award/

Infomration about the Rising Star Award: https://jea.org/wp/home/awards-honors/rising-star-award/