The Journalism Education Association has named Katrina Berry-Ivy of Tupelo High School as a 2024 Special Recognition Broadcast Adviser.

The article below is from the JEA website. You can read the full article here.

Katrina Berry-Ivy began teaching and advising broadcast journalism at Tupelo (Mississippi) High School in January of 2019 after a decade of professional broadcast experience.

“Katrina’s biggest strengths are her work ethic and can-do attitude. She has a unique ability to inspire students, and she has the content knowledge to coach them toward an elite level of performance,” JEA Mississippi State Director R.J. Morgan, MJE, said. “Beyond her exemplary work with her own program, her service to our discipline is enthusiastic and beyond reproach.”

Berry-Ivy is an MSPA board member and board secretary for the Southern Interscholastic Press Association. She also has published two articles in Communication: Journalism Education Today.

Her students have won numerous awards at the state, regional and national level. She was a 2023 JEA Rising Star and 2021 Mississippi Scholastic Press Association Broadcast Adviser of the Year.

One improvement Berry-Ivy has made to the program is increased diversity with the goal of finding voices that are not being heard as well as discovering what makes a student or teacher unique.

“People in the community are now suggesting story ideas, which is a complement to the program,” Berry-Ivy said. “Students feel valued because members of the community are now watching their show.”