For 25 years, Kathy Schrier has sat at the helm of the Washington Journalism Education Association, running the events at the heart of getting kids excited about telling stories, the central hub through which all things cross. This spring she is retiring.
“I feel like we still have a thriving organization despite all the things that we have kind of nipping at our heels…like the threat of the demise of journalism in general,” said Schrier at her retirement party in March. WJEA had just held a spring conference with over 16 schools in attendance.
“I think it shows that our kids are pretty gung ho about doing this work. Every time we get them all together, it just reinforces the importance of what we’re doing. Every school that has a program that really embraces journalism is a better place because of that program.”
Past and present advisers and board members of WJEA gathered in Bothell at the Anderson School Hotel in Bothell to celebrate the retirement of the longtime Executive Director and free speech advocate. In 2018 she was central in getting the New Voices legislation passed, protecting the free speech rights of student journalists.
For Schrier, it has always been about that student voice, engagement and participation.
“There’s definitely something to it that makes us all keep hanging in there. It’s definitely worth it,” said Schrier, holding the award presented to her from WJEA president, Thomas Kaup.
“Kathy is a rock of experience in journalism and single-handedly has kept scholastic journalism alive in Washington state,” said Kaup after the retirement party. Kaup moved here from Nebraska in 2007, where the state organization was not as active or as involved with advisers and students, he says.
“Immediately on entering the journalism world in Washington state, I was welcomed and recruited to help with the WJEA summer camp at CSU. I met this remarkable woman, Kathy Schrier, who connected me to an incredibly vibrant and supportive organization that welcomed me with open arms. It has been a constant and pleasurable presence in my life ever since.”
Schrier joined WJEA in 1996 “out of sheer necessity” she said, after she was hired for an advising position mid year at Chief Sealth High School.
The teacher she replaced had been asked to vacate his position before the holidays.
“The program was in shambles and I had a yearbook to produce, a newspaper printing contract to honor and a staff to rebuild by the end of that school year,” she recounted in an interview.
She had been running a small publishing company in Seattle for several years after moving west from Iowa, where she taught journalism after earning a BA in journalism at the University of Wisconsin.
“I joined WJEA and the support and resources I received from WJEA leadership saved me.”
She has been passing it forward ever since, joining the board and soon took over the journalism day at the University of Washington. Then she ran for president of WJEA, serving from 2004-2008.
Schrier was also involved with the JEA Student Press Right Commission. Fern Valentine, who is a great freedom press advocate, says WJEA became deeply involved in trying to pass press rights legislation, working closely with JEA and the Student Press Law Center.
“I know [Schrier] has followed the lead of many advocates of free speech for students and is a model for so many,” said Valentine who joined WJEA in 1976. Valentine was present at the retirement party.
“It’s an ongoing process to make sure that kids know what their rights are,” said Schrier in March. “One of the biggest jobs we have is making sure that they all know that they do have some power, and it’s pretty exciting to see them use it and have censorship threats taken off the table.”
Schrier has also played a central role in making sure kids have access to quality journalism experiences like the summer camp, J Day, the state and national conventions with the WJEA team of people devoted to student journalism. Or the press conferences she set up during the pandemic for students to interview Chris Reykdahl multiple times, giving students the opportunity to sit in the room with the decision makers and elected officials as well as professionals in the field.
“You know, [journalism] brings the community together, and it makes the kids feel like they really have a chance to say what needs to be said, to learn what needs to be learned about what’s going on,” said Schrier, in the room full of advisors. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I mean, obviously, I’ve been doing it for a long time.”
Anne Hayman, a past WJEA president, will take over as Interim executive director. Schrier will maintain a role in the organization as the treasurer.
