Rauch receives Distinguished Adviser honor from Dow Jones

Rachel Rauch, the yearbook and newspaper adviser at Walsworth Yearbooks customer Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin, was named a Distinguished Adviser this week when the Dow Jones News Fund announced its annual award recipients.

Mitch Eden, journalism teacher and media adviser at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, was named the 2015 High School Journalism Teacher of the Year.

Rauch was one of four Distinguished Advisers chosen by Dow Jones. Rauch has been teaching for 19 years, and is currently entering her fifth year as the adviser at Homestead. In 2013, Rauch won the S’Park Media Mentor Award from Ithaca College. In 2014, Rauch was a recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Journalism Education Association (JEA).

The other Distinguished Advisers selected by Dow Jones included:

• Sandra Coyer, Puyallup High School, Puyallup, Washington
• Amanda Thorpe, Portage Community High School, Portage, Michigan
• Mitch Ziegler, Redondo Union High School, Redondo Beach, California

Four advisers were chosen for Special Recognition, including:

• Terry Cassreino, St. Joseph’s Catholic School, Madison, Mississippi
• Alena Cybart-Persenaire, Kennedy High School, Waterbury, Connecticut
• Thomas Kaup, Auburn High School, Auburn, Washington
• Leland Mallett, Legacy High School, Mansfield, Texas

All the Dow Jones winners will be honored at the upcoming JEA/NSPA Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Orlando, Nov. 12-15.