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PSPA Board Members

Jane Blystone, Ph. D.  (MJE) has served on the PSPA board since 1983. She is the western Pa. Journalism Education Association/ PSPA Mentor. Blystone also served on the JEA board of directors for 9 years, serving teachers in the northeast region. In 2007 she served as local chair for the JEA/NSPA convention in Philadelphia. She has held numerous PSPA offices. During her career she advised newspapers for 21 years, yearbook for 25 and literary magazine for seven. She has received numerous awards from CSPA, JEA, and NCTE for her work with student publications and writing. For 34 years she taught high school English, journalism and served at the secondary reading chair. Prior to her retirement she directed the Mercyhurst University Graduate Studies in Secondary Education program for teacher certification. She continues to adjunct on occasion. [Email]

Jessica Bramer [Email]

Rick Brooks, Creative Design Manager with Jostens, has worked in the field of design and publishing since 1986. He designs, lectures, and does presentations nationally. Numerous Industry, PIA, Columbia, NSPA and Gold Leaf Awards have honored his clients. He received the “Gold Key” in 2000 from the CSPA of Columbia University and the “Keystone Award” and the “Friend of Student Journalism Award” from the PSPA. He earned his CJE certification (Certified Journalism Educator) from the Journalism Education Association in 2013. He was published in Printing Industries of America The Magazine in 2017 for an article on creating award winning creative work. In his personal time, Brooks enjoys fishing, hiking, camping, nature photography, saltwater aquarium fish, watercolor, and community service work. Brooks was selected as a State College PA Volunteer of the year for his work with adults with mental and physical disabilities. [Email]

Beth Ann Brown (CJE) has been an English teacher at Northeastern High School since 2005 and the yearbook adviser since 2009. During that time the Daedalus yearbook has received numerous state and national awards including the 2015 Pacemaker Award from NSPA and the 2017 All-State Keystone Championship from PSPA. When not advising, Beth Ann enjoys spending time with family, reading good books, and feeding her competitive spirit by watching and playing sports. [Email]

​​Paul Fantaski, a mathematics teacher at Kiski Area High School in Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, advised 22 yearbooks throughout his career before retiring from yearbook in 2016. Under his guidance, the Campus yearbook won dozens of national awards, including two CSPA Silver Crowns and 10 PSPA All-State Keystone Championships. He won the 2012 PSPA Journalism Teacher of the Year Award and now serves as the PSPA President. Outside of the classroom, he enjoys kayaking and mowing grass at his camp in Smicksburg, Pennsylvania - Amish country. [Email]

​​Patrick Gordon [Email]

​John Kupetz is a professor of journalism and English at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. He advises a student newspaper and teaches courses in journalism, literature and film. A former assistant professor/placement director at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, he continues as an adjunct instructor who teaches as a full-time instructor in the Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute in a five-week summer program for high school journalists. He also is a faculty fellow in the university’s Communications Residential College. He has also worked as a reporter and editor for a daily newspaper and a trade magazine. He was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he taught journalism and English at the secondary and college level. He considers Toto to be the hero of “The Wizard of Oz” for pulling the curtain back to expose the truth – just like a good journalist. [Email]
Becky Magness (CJE), has been teaching media courses at Franklin Regional High School (Murrysville, PA) since 1999. She currently teaches Journalism, Broadcasting, and Video Production. Her students have won several state and local awards in both Journalism and Television and Video Production.  Last year one of her students won a student emmy award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Franklin Regional’s Panther newspaper staff members have won numerous Student Keystone Press Awards and regional PSPA awards.  When not teaching, Magness loves traveling with her family. [Email]

Nate Thompson [Email]

Stacey Hetrick has advised The Panther Press at Saegertown Jr. Sr. HIgh School (Saegertown, Pa.) for the past 12 years. She wrote and received a national grant from the NAAF (Newspaper Association of America Foundation) to revive Saegertown’s journalism program through a partnership with The Meadville Tribune. In 2009, she was named PSPA Journalism Teacher of the Year. Panther Press staff members have won Student Keystone Press Awards and regional PSPA awards. They have also been recognized by the Erie Times-News for best Twitter coverage of local sports in the northwest region. In addition to teaching, Hetrick enjoys birdwatching and being a newshound on Twitter. [Email]

Kate Plows has advised The Friar's Lantern, an extracurricular student newspaper at Malvern Preparatory School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, since 2012. She presently stands as the 2017 PSPA Journalism Teacher of the Year, and was awarded a JEA Rising Star Award in 2017. When not advising, she teaches graphic design and ceramics, and hangs out with the world’s sweetest dog and a one-eyed horse. [Email]

Lisa Sands, a 23-year veteran English teacher, has been serving as the adviser of the Central York High School yearbook since 2007. Her Panther staff has received various state awards over the years and was twice recognized by Jostens to be featured in their annual best-of-the-best Look Book. She now also assists Jostens as a workshop adviser at their annual summer yearbook camp. Her outside passions involve serving as a group fitness instructor and cheering on her daughters in all their various athletic and academic endeavors. [Email]
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Dave Weikert (CJE) has been teaching digital communications at Northeastern High School (Manchester, PA) since 2002. He currently teaches news media production, computer repair certification, and AP computer science principles. His students have won awards at the NSPA/JEA conference in news package production every year since they first began competing in 2014. Dave enjoys teaching colleagues about low cost television studio production so that more teachers are able to implement news media programs at their schools. When not teaching at Northeastern, Dave enjoys spending time with his family and volunteering at Christian Life Assembly.​ [Email]