2023 WJEA State Journalism Conference

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Chris Schwalm, keynote speaker for the 2023 WJEA spring conference, works with the PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs team as a Youth Media Producer supporting media production teachers and students to elevate teen voices across all mediums through transformative real-world educational opportunities.

Click the button above to register for the conference by Feb. 22. (CONTEST registration due Feb. 15)

Join WJEA at Mountlake Terrace High School on March 4 for a fast-paced day all about what you do in your student media. Rub elbows with media professionals, compete in our Write-Off Contests, and connect with other students and advisers who do what you do from around the state. Teachers may earn five clock hours for the day ($4 per hr.)

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2023 Keynoter

Chris Schwalm advised high school newspaper and yearbook production classes from 1998–2002 by day while working as a correspondent for a regional news organization on nights and weekends, covering several municipalities and chasing ambulances, fire trucks, and police calls.

He then represented a three-state territory for a national yearbook company from 2002–2006 with a focus on supporting advisers and students.

When he found himself just running around signing contracts, he returned to the classroom at his former high school to create the district media production program, building it from one class with seven students to five classes with 80–100 students from 2006–2021. He was named the Student Television Network national teacher of the year in 2019.

After a family move brought Chris, his wife, two daughters and two dogs to the Pacific Northwest during the summer of 2021, he served a short stint as the Digital Social Media Marketing Specialist for Bellevue School District before joining the PBS News Hour Student Reporting Labs team as a Youth Media Producer — his dream job supporting media production teachers and students to elevate teen voices across all mediums through transformative real-world educational opportunities.  

7:30 – 8:50 a.m.: Registration and check-in

9 – 11:20 a.m.: Write-Off Contests

9:30 – 11:20 a.m.: Sessions for non-contestants and adviser hospitality room

11:15 a.m. – 12:25 p.m.: Lunch (pre-ordered lunch or sack lunch from home for students and advisers; hosted lunch for judges and speakers)

12:30 – 1:25 p.m.: Keynote: Christopher  Schwalm

1:30 – 3:25 p.m.: Sessions for all attendees

3:30 – 4:45 p.m.: Awards Ceremony