Publications advisor receives award

by Emily Wemhoff

The Journalism Education Association recently named publications advisor Eric Thomas special recognition yearbook advisor for his work on the Teresian yearbook in the 2010-2011 school year. Thomas, head of the English department, said he had to submit a large application and portfolio filled with his work, letters of recommendation and teaching styles in order to apply for the honor.
“A bunch of people that I admire helped by writing letters of recommendation,” Thomas said. “It means a ton to me to look through the application and see the people that are important to me as a teacher in there, and I think that’s really cool.”

According to Thomas, there are three tiers of awards handed out each year by the Journalism Education Assocation (JEA): one yearbook advisor of the year, two distinguished advisors, and two special recognition advisors. Thomas was one of the two who received the special recognition award. The JEA will have a banquet April 14th at the National Press Association’s annual convention in Seattle for all of the yearbook advisor award winners.

Thomas says he enjoys many things about advising the yearbook staff.

“With the yearbook, every year you completely start over,” Thomas said. “Sometimes this is the hardest thing, but also the most rewarding. Every one of the yearbooks that you create  can look substantially different than the year before.”

Sophomore Teresian staff member Maddie Horton says that Thomas is a good advisor because of his teaching techniques and patience.

“When we went to the national journalism convention, I felt like we knew a lot more than other schools,” Horton said. “We are more well-rounded with our yearbook knowledge because of him.”

Junior staff member Alexis Jenkin says that Thomas sacrifices a lot of time to make the yearbook successful and he makes it fun for everyone.

“Mr. Thomas makes us laugh as well as motivates us to do our work,” Jenkin said. “He definitely deserved this award.”