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Susan Massy, the long-time adviser at Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, has been selected for induction into the KSPA Hall of Fame. KSPA will honor Massy as the 37th member of the Hall of Fame during the annual State Contest Brunch and Members Meeting, Saturday, May 4, 2013, in the Kansas Union at the University of Kansas.

The KSPA Hall of Fame was begun in 1995 as a way of honoring those members and friends of high school journalism in Kansas who have contributed to the profession both at the state and national levels. Massy’s contributions to both KSPA and the Journalism Education Association are “just too long for one letter,” as one of her seven nominators wrote. In short, Massy has served as a mentor, a leader and a role model for students and other advisers.

“It’s hard for me to picture a scholastic journalism activity in the KC metro area, the state of Kansas, or even the country that does not involve Susan Massy,” wrote Amy Morgan, the adviser at Shawnee Mission West, in her letter of nomination. Massy served as Morgan’s mentor when Morgan student-taught at SM Northwest. “It is difficult to imagine a tacher who has given more of herself than Susan.”

Another Shawnee Mission teacher, Becky Tate, at SM North, also remembered Massy’s help during Tate’s first few years in the district. Particularly striking to Tate was Massy’s 1992 testimony to state legislators that Kansas high school journalists needed the protection offered by Senate Bill 62, now known as the Kansas Student Publications Act.

“I’m sure it is because of her articulate, polite manner that Kansas is one of a handful of states with this protection,” Tate wrote in her letter of nomination.

Massy started teaching 36 years ago at Pleasant Ridge High School, where she stayed for two years before moving to Northwest. She took over the SM Northwest yearbook, the Lair, in 1987.

SM Northwest Principal Bill Harrington called Massy “a student’s teacher” who shapes young lives. Former KSPA Executive Director and Hall of Fame member John Hudnall noted that Massy was present when KSPA board members first came up with the idea for a Hall of Fame.

“I also recall thinking that Susan, herself, best represented the epitome of a Hall of Fame member,” Hudnall wrote. “Susan Massy is a leader within her own district, a force in her own state and a model nationally of how to achieve and develop good, successful publications.”

KSPA Board member Kathy Habiger of Mill Valley has seen Massy’s influence in Kansas and at the national level.

“Susan has been and will continue to be Kansas’ finest ambassador for scholastic journalism,” Habiger wrote. “Her leadership as JEA state director for Kansas and as a member of the KSPA executive board have positively affected the lives of student journalists and their advisers. Her sessions at state and national conventions are always standing room only. She takes her expertise on the road each summer as a popular workshop speaker and teacher.”

Walsworth yearbook representative John Kelley noted Massy’s constant desire to lead her students to be better journalists and better persons.

“The personal growth I see in Susan’s students while in her classroom is amazing,” Kelley wrote. “When I walk into her classroom I am always impressed at how her staffs are constantly striving to improve their publication. They get this from seeing Susan’s passion and dedication to journalism every day.”

Massy joins Nancy Hall as a KSPA Hall of Fame member.

“By setting the bar high,” Hall wrote, “her work with journalism students continues to elevate the standards for scholastic journalism both in Kansas and throughout the United States.”

Massy’s former students still treasure the wisdom and skills she left them with.

“She allowed us to find our own niche in journalism,” said Ryan McCarthy, a proud Cougar graduate and a journalism major at the University of Kansas. “She helped me grow as a journalist in college and in the professional journalism entities that I work (for). Massy’s awesome.”

Here’s a list of what Massy and her students have accomplished in her time at Northwest: