The Michigan Interscholastic Press Association today honored Grosse Pointe North High School Principal Kate Murray as its 2018 Administrator of the Year. The award recognizes a school administrator who has shown strong interest in and support for scholastic journalism.
Murray was recognized at MIPA’s Spring Awards in Lansing, along with nearly contest winners in the organization’s statewide scholastic journalism contest.
“Because not everyone understands the role of a free student press like she does, Kate has fielded complaints about pieces that have run in both the newspaper and the yearbook,” Grosse Pointe North newspaper and yearbook adviser Shari Adwers wrote in nominating her principal. “What she demonstrates consistently is that she knows the student reporters are very thoughtful in their decisions. She speaks to the realities our kids face in 2018 and that North journalists tell real stories.
Under Murray’s leadership, Grosse Pointe North this year received its second First Amendment Press Freedom Award. The award, from the Journalism Education Association, National Scholastic Press Association and Quill and Scroll International Honor Society, requires administrators to demonstrate their understanding of student press laws and freedoms.
Murray also has protected funding for the newspaper and yearbook programs, Adwers said, and students say she regularly engages with student journalists.
“The respect we receive from our administration, especially Murray, is unparalleled in the district,” North Pointe newspaper Co-Editor-in-Chief Abigail Cadieux wrote in a letter supporting her principal’s nomination. Kate Murray sees us as absolutely integral not just to the school community, but to the very fabric of public education, as well. There are many publications who cannot say the same about their principal.”
ABOUT THE MICHIGAN INTERSCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION
Founded in 1921 and housed in the Michigan State University School of Journalism, the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association is a nonprofit organization composed of scholastic journalism teachers and publications advisers and their students. MIPA is committed to promoting and recognizing excellence in scholastic journalism at all levels through education, training and support of student journalists and their advisers.