Student story- Inspired to teach, Pritchett prepares for future

By Rebekah Burrow

Chairs surround three tables, empty space between them. Teachers and soon-to-be teachers fill the chairs, papers strewn on the table in front of them.

Chantelle Pritchett, a young woman barely in her 20s with locks of blonde hair cascading down her back, listens intently. The K-State senior picks up her pen, holds it for a few seconds, and then gently places it back on the table as she takes in every word. She wants to become a journalism adviser, and this is a place to achieve that dream.

The advisers class is a helpful to her because of what she is taught. In the class they discuss ways to deal with budget cuts and finding stories that are more unique to their schools.

The class has a combination of both newspaper and yearbook advisers, so she can go beyond her personal experience in high school of working on newspaper.

“I was always really strong on newspaper but had never done much with yearbook,” Pritchett said. “Having the other advisers there is really helpful because they’re experienced and know what they’re doing.”

The reason Pritchett wants to become an adviser is because she believes students should have teachers who will give advice about both the publications they work for and their personal lives.

"Advisers need to be somebody who can be a different person if they need to,” Pritchett said. “They should have good connections and inspire their students. They should be someone the students trust.”

Two people who inspired her were Tony Jimenez, a retired reporter, and Jill Chittum, who was her high school journalism adviser in Derby.

The class has been an eye-opener for Pritchett. She said the main reason she took the class was to be in an environment with plenty of experience and see how things went.

“I figured if I wasn’t meant to be an adviser, then I wouldn’t want to be one at the end of the day,” Pritchett said. “I still do.”

With the desire to be an adviser, she heads to the Landon room at the Holiday Inn every morning. She takes a seat.

As the screen lights up and the teacher gets up to start the day’s lesson, something also lights up in Pritchett. Desire. Hope. And above all else — passion.

Rebekah Burrow is a junior at Notre Dame de Sion and a student in the advanced writing class at the Flint Hills Publication Workshop.