2009 Featured Speakers

Bradley Wilson

Wilson is coordinator for student media advising at North Carolina State University advising various media from the daily newspaper to the yearbook. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from the ethics of digital photography to publications design. He is editor of the publications for JEA and has received the Carl Towley Award, JEA's top award. Wilson is the Featured Speaker for Newspaper attendees at J-Day.

Linda Drake

Linda Drake, CJE, has advised the yearbook for 29 years and the newspaper for 19 years during her 37-year tenure at Chase County High School in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas. Both the newspaper and yearbook are award-winning publications. In January, Drake was named the 2008 National Yearbook Adviser of the Year by the Journalism Education Association. She received the JEA Inspirational Teacher Award in 2007 , the Engel Award in 1999 and has been named a special recognition adviser and a distinguished adviser by the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. Chase County received the Let Freedom Ring Award in 2001, the only Kansas school to receive this distinction. Drake teaches at several summer workshops as well as serves as director of the Bethel Publications Workshop; she is also a presenter at the JEA/NSPA Spring and Fall Conventions each year. Drake has judged for many state and national organizations, as well. She has served two terms as president of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association, having served on the executive board since 1995. Drake serves on the NSPA Board of Directors and was recently elected JEA secretary.

Mike Hooker

Mike Hooker is CBS4's Northern Newsroom Reporter. He has been telling stories about the people of Colorado since joining the CBS4 team in 1994. Before moving to Fort Collins in 1998, Mike reported from the CBS4 Mountain Newsroom in Frisco for four years. Hooker has reported from many historic Colorado events, including the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the deadly Fort Collins flood of 1997, opening day at Denver International Airport, the death of Matthew Shepard and the murder trials and hate-crime awareness that followed, the Columbine High School shootings, numerous wildfires including Hayman and Buffalo Creek. Hooker grew up in Boulder and is a graduate of Fairview High School. He earned his BS in Journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Hooker is the Featured Speaker for Broadcast attendees at J-Day.

Kathy Daly

While the Trail yearbook adviser at Overland High School in Aurora, Colo., Kathy Daly led her yearbook staffs to numerous Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold and Silver Crown Awards, three National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker awards and six Colorado High School Press Association Sweepstakes Awards. Daly has received CSPA’s Gold Key and NSPA’s Pioneer Awards. In 1998, she was selected the Journalism Education Association’s Yearbook Adviser of the Year and has been awarded JEA’s Medal of Merit and Lifetime Achievement Award. After teaching English and student leadership, advising publications, and serving as an activities director, Kathy retired from education. She currently travels the country to teach at workshops and conventions and explores her passion as a professional photographer. Daly is the Opening Speaker on J-Day.