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Terry Nelson profile

By Warren Watson

MUNCIE , IN -- Terry Nelson manufactures responsible citizens and journalists from her second-floor classroom at Muncie Central High School .

In the same tradition of the Ball jar makers, the steel fabricators, and the transmission assemblers that put industrial Muncie on the map in the last century, the 51-year-old high journalism teacher and adviser shapes and tunes young minds and hearts to inform the school community and carry forward the civic tradition of the First Amendment.

It is a vocation she has pursued for the past 29 years, the last 13 at the sprawling school on the White River near downtown. She has guided hundreds of writers and editors, young citizens ready to take on the world. She has been in the public eye often – and her clip file at the Muncie Star Press is choked with yellowing, brittle remembrances of courageous battles she has fought to keep the student press free and alive.

She has been honored – and hounded -- like few practitioners of scholastic news papering: Dow Jones Newspaper Fund National Journalism Teacher of the Year, USA Today's All USA Teacher, and First Team, among others. She also has been fired and rehired, taunted and ridiculed by administrators and parents.

“A good journalism teacher realizes the importance and potential impact that journalists have on the world,” said Nelson. “Besides parenthood, teaching's the most important job in the world.”

On Friday, the ubiquitous Nelson was recognized for lifelong service yet again at the annual meeting of the Indiana High School Press Association at Franklin (ID) College, where was on the speaking program, smiling and greeting new and old friends and thoroughly enjoying herself.

In the teaching profession, her admirers are many. She is affectionately known as the poster girl for the Student Press Law Center , a group that defends freedom of speech in the scholastic media and has helped her in the past. She doesn't mind the label or the publicity. In fact, she even puts the “poster-girl” reference on her handouts!

“Terry Nelson is a pillar of scholastic journalism,” said Randy Swikle, an Illinois colleague who has watched Nelson grow in stature these many years. “Her sense of ethics stirs the conscience of the community, causing people to deal with the truth. Her professionalism advances the highest goals of teaching in journalism.”

Said Dennis Cripe, the executive director of the Indiana High School Press Association and former high school journalism teacher himself, “When our group thinks of freedom, we think of Terry. Through Terry, we've learned that freedom is the foundation of all the creative activities in scholastic journalism.”

The year 2004 has been a good year for Terry Nelson. It began with a decision to pursue and publish a difficult and wrenching story in the school's paper, which led to a major award. It ends with the 25-year-old memories of a publishing scandal that threatened to drive Nelson from teaching long before she had a chance to make an impact. That ordeal launched her into the national spotlight.

Last spring, the staff of her newspaper, the Munsonian, received one of scholastic journalism's top honors, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Sullivan Award, for its coverage of transgressions of a former Hall-of-Fame basketball coach at Muncie Central. The award was established to honor student journalists who have fought for their right to speak their minds while in the pursuit of truth.

“She is like a great general who inspires by connecting with students at their own level,” said parent John Seidel in 2000, when Nelson was honored by USA Today.

Nelson was born in Muncie , one of six children of Paul Edward and Elaine Thrash. Terry's family lived in the Muncie / Gary / Detroit axis during her formative years. It was a close family, and when her dad died at 77 of a smoking-related heart aneurysm in 2001, Terry was inspired to write a tribute in The Star Press: “Death came prematurely to this man because of a nasty little habit she picked up in junior high school … I miss Paul Edward. I still have his Chi Chi Rodriguez straw golf hat hanging on my black iron coat tree in the front hallway.”

At an early age, Nelson caught the journalism bug. In a 2002 article, Nelson recalled her early forays into journalism: “I had always wanted to be a journalist since the time of the Beatles' invasion of America ,” she said. Nelson produced a handwritten newsletter about “Beatlemania” when she was 12.

Later, Nelson graduated in three years from Ball State University in 1973, with a bachelor's degree in education, specializing in journalism as a major and speech/ theater as a minor. She would later return to BSU for a master's in journalism.

Although teaching has dominated her life, Nelson was bound for newspapers in 1973. She married her high school sweetheart, moved with him to Mississippi and took a daily newsroom job in Biloxi . “My original intent was to be the first female editor of the Chicago Tribune. I never wanted to be a teacher,” she said.

But upon returning to Muncie a year later, she opted for the prospect of better and shorter hours and became a teacher at Yorktown High School . She quickly became immersed in the work, teaching and advising in the journalism area, and also overseeing speech and drama (something she does to this day at Muncie Central).

Five years and two babies (Matt, 27; and Annie, 24) later, Nelson, only 26 and not protected by job tenure, became the center of a firestorm in the Mount Pleasant Community Schools district. It was May 1979.

In the student newspaper, Nelson made the decision to protect the identity of a letter-writer who was critical of the school administration. According to Muncie newspaper reports at the time, Nelson was harassed by principal James Laws because of her decision to not name the offending letter-writer.

The crisis escalated when Laws decided to fire Nelson. One of the reasons given to the school board: Nelson's students spattered some paint during theater preparation.

The school board backed Laws, dismissing Nelson on a 3-1 vote on May 29.

But the decision didn't last. Nelson filed a $65,000 suit in Federal District Court against the school, seeking reinstatement and attempting to prevent Laws from interfering with the operation of the student press. Students rallied in support of her, risking suspension. Journalism educators and residents spoke out on her behalf.

The board reversed itself a month later, rehiring Nelson and negotiating a settlement with the young teacher, who agreed to drop the suit. But the board reaffirmed the policy of a free student press.

“Terry Nelson is the kind of adviser every student of journalism wishes he had,” said Rich Holden, executive director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. “Her stance is clear and firm – she stands on the students' rights under the First Amendment.”

Her courage shone through again last winter, when her Munsonian staff pushed ahead in publishing a story after revelations that the Muncie Central basketball coach was paying his players to play. Nelson's students endured efforts to censor the story, change quotes, not to mention threats and innuendo, en route to press.

While censorship, obviously, is still a very real issue, Nelson cited another issue as the biggest obstacle facing a free student press today.

“With all the attention placed on education today, (it's) the no-child-left-behind policy and all the concern about core requirements,” said Nelson of the nationwide move by educators to narrow curricula around certain core courses such as math and science at the expense of other courses, including art, music and journalism. She said that fewer college-bound students have time for electives, and “that is driving down the number of kids who can go into publications.”

Nelson said that state-by-state education reform is needed to place journalism where it belongs – smack-dab in the middle of the core curriculum.

The national political climate also presents problems for journalism teachers and advisers, said Nelson. “We're in an era of fear – (from) 9-11, the aftermath of that. When there is fear, there seems to be more of a need for control. From principals to advisers to students, there is often a hesitancy to tackle the truth or fear that truth will offend someone.”

She added, “There is a big concern about good public relations. Schools are more concerned about putting out the good word about what they're doing. For people who aren't informed, that means all good news in the newspaper.”

The pursuit of truth, however, remains at the foundation of journalism education, she said. “Talking about (difficult) things makes you a healthier school,” said Nelson. “Journalism builds community.”

Why then, is a robust and free student press important – and what are the benefits to a school?

“One of the great benefits is to teach the kids how to be involved in their world, not only by complaining but by coming up with solutions on how to improve their world,” said Nelson. “The school newspaper is a place to air those complaints initially, and research and problem-solve. I tell the kids that there is no problem we shouldn't tackle if we are to improve the world. By realizing that at 16 they have the power to talk about any topic, to suggest improvements and achievements, it sets in motion the rest of their lives.”

(Warren Watson is a co-vice chair of the American Editor committee and a frequent contributor to this magazine. Watson is on the journalism faculty at Ball State University and the director of the Journalism Ideas high school initiative. Prior to joining Ball State in July 2004, Watson was vice president of the American Press Institute. He is a 30-year veteran of newspapers and has been a reporter, editor, art director, and news executive at newspapers as small as the 2,000-circulation Somersworth (NH) Free Press and as large as the 400,000-circulation St. Petersburg Times).

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