Member advisers will elect three positions to MIPA’s executive board: first vice president and two trustees. Candidates for these offices were nominated at the MIPA annual meeting on April 20.
Elections will take place via email ballot. Ballots are being emailed to current members on April 22 and must be returned by May 11 to be counted. Please contact the MIPA office if you have questions about your ballot or do not receive one.
Candidates were asked to respond to a questionnaire. Their answers are below. Responses to questions about work experience, educator and honors were edited by MIPA’s director for format and length. You can learn more about these offices by reading MIPA’s bylaws.
First Vice President
MIPA’s first vice president serves a two-year term before automatically becoming MIPA’s president for two years, followed by past president for 1 year.
Jim Woehrle
Midland High School
- Years at current school: 24
- Years as a teacher: 24
- Student media programs advised: Newspaper, Social Media
- Current MIPA office, if any: Trustee
- Previous MIPA experience: I have taught at the Summer Workshop since 2004, excluding a couple of years when it went online. I have been a trustee for two years. I have been a speaker at the Fall Conference for most of the past 20 years, same goes for judging.
- Past work experience: When I was 15 years old, I got a job in the press room of my hometown newspaper, The Saline Reporter in Saline, Michigan. Since then, I have been employed in some journalism capacity for the rest of my working career. I was a journalism major at Michigan State, where I received a degree in 1991, and worked as a newspaper reporter at various papers in the Midwest for 10 years. In 1999, I earned an education degree from Central Michigan University. For the past 24 years, I have taught English and journalism and advised the Focus newspaper. All in the same classroom!
- Education: Saline High School; Bachelor’s in Journalism, Michigan State University; Bachelor’s in Education, Central Michigan University; Master’s In Education, Central Michigan University; 45-plus hours of continuing graduate education beyond Master’s.
- Honors, awards & activities: Golden Pen Award (2016) from MIPA; Gerstacker Award for Teaching Excellence (2020) from Midland Public Schools.
- Why I’m seeking this office: MIPA has done so much to benefit my program, my students and me personally and professionally. It is the single most brilliant collection of educators I have ever known, a professional learning community unlike any other. I believe strongly in the importance of journalism in a high-functioning democracy, and MIPA does many things to prepare students for life as a contributor to an intelligent society. Furthermore, MIPA is an important resource for teachers and has tremendous potential to provide professional development for educators in all of the language arts. I would like to give back to the organization that has provided so much to me. As I enter the final few years of my teaching career, I would like to maintain MIPA’s energy and relevance as an organization, keeping it strong and healthy for the next generation of students and advisers.
- Here’s something else I’d like MIPA members to know about me: My parents met at Michigan State; I met my wife at MSU, and my two children have graduated from MSU. My daughter has just graduated with a minor in public relations. Her last MSU class ever was – appropriately enough – in Com Arts. Suffice to say that our entire family is closely connected with MSU. Go Green!
Trustees
Trustees serve a two-year term and two positions are available.
Kaitlin Edgerton
Grosse Pointe South High School
- Years at current school: 9
- Years as a teacher: 11
- Student media programs advised: The Tower, print newspaper; The Tower Pulse, news website
- Current MIPA office, if any: None
- Previous MIPA experience: MIPA Executive Board President; MIPA Executive Board Second Vice President; MIPA Executive Board Trustee; Presenter at the MIPA Fall Conference, 2016-present; Judging Panel Head Judge for MIPA Student Journalist Staff, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024; Judge for MIPA Student Journalist Staff, 2016-present; Participant in multiple MIPA Judging Day events (lost count at some point); Instructor for Feature Writing at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop, 2019; Assistant Activities Director at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop, 2022; Facilitator for Adviser Institute at the MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop, 2023-present; Organizer of MIPA Adviser Ed Camps, 2017, 2018, 2019; Former Mentor for MIPA, 2018-2020
- Past work experience: Yearbook adviser and newspaper adviser, Madison High School
- Education: Bachelor of the Arts in English with a minor in History, Oakland University; Master’s degree in Secondary Teaching, Oakland University; Post Bachelor’s in Journalism, Michigan State University
- Honors, awards & activities: MIPA Golden Pen Award Recipient, 2022; Rising Star Award from the JEA, 2019; Certified Journalism Educator, 2019-2022; Master Journalism Educator, 2023; Journalism Education Association State Director, 2022-present; Journalism Education Association Adviser Mentor, 2022-present; Presenter at CSPA in 2019; Presenter at NSPA conferences, 2018-present; Judge for National Journalist of the Year, 2023; Judge for National Aspiring Journalist, 2022; State Judging for California, Washington, Ohio, Colorado, and Florida; Advising Fellow at Kent State University, 2016; Advanced Advising Fellow at Kent State University, 2019; CSPA Judging; NSPA Judging
- Why I’m seeking this office: When I began my career as a teacher, I never imagined I would become a journalism adviser. It was Sarah Millard at Stony Creek High School who advised an amazing group of yearbook students. I’ll admit, it intimidated me at first, but I was intrigued. After securing a long-term substitute position teaching beginning journalism, I thought I was ready to take on the role of adviser, or so I told myself. Any adviser knows that I was anything but ready. However, with that small spark from my student teaching, I immersed myself in the world of journalism, starting by advising at Madison High School. In those initial years, I often turned to MIPA for help. It was the veteran advisers throughout the state who helped me build my knowledge and encouraged me to succeed. Without the assistance of MIPA and my fellow advisers I wouldn’t be where I am today. In fact, just last week, I had an advising question and called Jeremy Steele on a Saturday. Jeremy picked up, and he helped me through my question. In a nutshell, this is what I believe MIPA does – it helps advisers through moments where they may feel unsure or isolated. MIPA, in turn, fosters a beautiful community of educators and enthusiasts of scholastic journalism. Often, advisers are the only people in their building doing what they do, teaching what they teach. Having an organization like MIPA makes it feel less like an island and more like a mighty city. Because of this, and for so many more reasons, I would like to run for a term as MIPA trustee. In this position, I hope to continue to create a mighty community of advisers who are ready to take on both the big and small stuff together.
- Here’s something else I’d like MIPA members to know about me: I enjoy assisting all students and advisers and crossing tasks off my to-do list. I’m always eager to participate in tie-dye activities at MIPA camp, but unfortunately, Jeremy Steele won’t let me.
Jason Westra-Hall
Grand Ledge High School
- Years at current school: 4
- Years as a teacher: 6
- Student media programs advised: The Ledge Yearbook
- Current MIPA office, if any: None
- Previous MIPA experience: Contest judge for the past three years.
- Past work experience: English/history teacher at Coldwater High School, 2 years
- Education: Master’s in American Culture, University of Michigan-Flint, Bachelor’s in English and History for Secondary Education, Central Michigan University
- Honors, awards & activities: Current Representative at Large for the Michigan Council of Teachers of English Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; PLC Leader for Grand Ledge High School; Diversity Club, GSA, and Model UN Adviser for Grand Ledge High School. Professional affiliations: Michigan Council of Teachers of English, National Council of Teachers of English, Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, and Journalism Education Association. Michigan Reading Association’s 30 Under 30 Award, March 2023; Teacher of the Week from WILX News, November 2022; Teacher of the Month from Grand Ledge High School, May 2022
- Why I’m seeking this office: I have been teaching journalism at Grand Ledge for the past four years and have enjoyed being in community with other journalism educators in the state and the country. MIPA has provided an opportunity for not only me to learn about my role as an educator, but for my students to learn about journalism and being passionate about what they create. I want to give back to the journalism community and help others succeed and find a community of other educators and students to help develop their program, like they did for me. I walked into a declining journalism program, which since taking over has seen increased enrollment and more awards. We struggled to keep 12 students in Yearbook, and now I have the max capacity of students each year. I want to provide a way to encourage and help others boost their own programs and collaborate with each individual.
- Here’s something else I’d like MIPA members to know about: My favorite hobby is escape rooms, so if I had any other career without a care in the world, I’d love to be building and playing escape rooms all the time!