Julia Satterthwaite, adviser of Monta Vista High’s newsmagazine El Estoque and president of the Journalism Education Association of Northern California, received the sought-after Columbia Scholastic Press Association National High School Journalism Teacher of the Year Award on Feb. 7.
According to the CSPA website, the award recognizes exceptional mentorship and high-quality school newspapers or news magazines.
Additionally, Senior Alan Tai, one of El Estoque’s editors-in-chief, was named Journalism Education Association of Northern California’s Journalist of the Year six days later.
Julia Satterthwaite
After graduating with a bachelor’s in journalism education from Michigan State University, Satterthwaite spent two decades teaching and advising high school journalism and has advised El Estoque for nine years.
During her time at El Estoque, Satterthwaite says she helped contribute to the news magazine’s multimedia expansion, which has since been thriving.
Since Satterthwaite joined, El Estoque has broadened its reporting to video stories, photo essays and social media platforms to capture readers “where they are already hanging out,” Satterthwaite said.
Alongside creating more accessible journalism, the main reason Satterthwaite chose to be a journalism teacher is to prepare her students to be informed citizens, she said.
“Journalism students are more likely to participate in democracy because they have had this exposure to things that are going on around in the world and in the state, in our country, city, et cetera,” Satterthwaite said. “They [my students] know how to consume media, and they know what’s credible.”
For Satterthwaite, winning CSPA’s highly coveted award solidified the importance of her work.
“It [winning the award] reaffirms that the work that I do as a journalism teacher is important and that it makes a difference,” Satterthwaite said. “In terms of media literacy in general, journalism teachers are doing a lot of really great work.”
Satterthwaite also thanked her other advisers, including her husband and fellow journalism adviser at Palo Alto High, Rodney Satterthwaite and all of her journalism students.
Alan Tai
Just a few days after Satterthwaite was awarded High School Journalism Teacher of the Year, she was the first to tell her student, Alan Tai, that he was awarded California Journalist of the Year.
“I really couldn’t believe it [winning JEANC Journalist of the Year],” Tai said. “It was really an amazing moment.”
Tai says he has been interested in journalism since taking Creative Media in middle school and joining El Estoque his sophomore year.
To apply for Journalist of the Year, applicants create a portfolio showcasing their best journalistic work and detailing their contributions in nine different categories: Reporting and Writing; Editing, Leadership and Team Building; Design; Broadcast Journalism; Photojournalism; Web and Social Media; Law, Ethics and News Literacy; Marketing and Audience Engagement and Commitment to Diversity.
Tai says he spent weeks compiling his portfolio, which allowed him to revisit some of his older journalistic work.
“It was a lot of work to put everything in [my portfolio], and it forced me to reflect on a lot of my own work and what I’ve done throughout my three years at El Estoque,” Tai said. “Just looking back at everything I did … I was really proud of myself.”
Yet out of all the different journalistic categories, Tai said feature writing has always been his favorite and one of his strong suits. For Tai, the ability to capture the stories, hopes and dreams of others is “enchanting.”
“I really hope that I’m able to continue writing in the future, sharing stories that matter to people, that uplift people, that teach them how to power themselves through everyday life and learn how to fight,” Tai said.
As for what’s to come in El Estoque’s future, both Tai and Satterthwaite have similar wishes: creating great journalism and shaping great people.
“My adviser [Satterthwaite] put it in concise terms: ‘people first, then product,’” Tai said. “It matters to me that everyone walking out of our newsroom comes out knowing how to better navigate the chaos of life with their skills from El Estoque.”
