LCN Adviser Wins 2011 Golden Pen Award

For Kim Kozian’s students, learning their adviser had won the 2011 Golden Pen Award was simply official recognition of the passion, understanding and knowledge they have known and relied on for years.

The 12-year adviser of the L’Anse Creuse High School North newspaper, The North Star, and yearbook, The Quest, Kozian received the Golden Pen at the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association’s spring conference on April 26.

“I was just pretty much blown away,” Kozian said of learning she had won. “Naturally, I cried. (The nomination process) is a lot of work. These kids are not afraid of work–my two editors have shown that all year–but I just thought to go through all that process … I was just blown away. It’s just the highest compliment that they could give me.”

From tracking down the newspaper’s previous adviser to interviewing the director of MIPA, North Star co-editors Anya Rath and Kelsey Croce undertook the lengthy nomination process without Kozian’s knowledge.

“We nominated Ms. Kozian for this award because as soon as I saw the announcement for the award on the MIPA page, I instantly knew it was something she deserved,” Rath said. “Ms. Kozian is one of those teachers everyone loves. She's personable and completely humble about her talents. She shows a lot of passion for the work she does.”

A third-year student of Kozian, Rath credits her desire to pursue journalism as a career to Kozian’s influence and inspiration.

“When I entered into her journalism class my sophomore year, I saw it as a fun class to burn some creative energy,” Rath said. “By the end of my first year on The North Star staff, I realized that I wanted to make journalism my career. If you work hard and pay attention in her class, you can truly pull away a lot in the process.”

As an adviser, Kozian said she likes to give her students as much autonomy in the publication process as possible.

“I allow them to do a lot of the decision making on the newspaper and the yearbook because I think that helps them to feel more involved and in control,” she said. “It’s their work. It’s not my work. I already did this back in high school. I’m there to advise them.”

Under Kozian’s guidance, The North Star received seven honorable mentions, one first place award for review writing and a gold award for overall newspaper at the MIPA spring conference.

However, as Rath said, it is the skill, more so than the awards, that students take away from Kozian’s instruction.

“I think that publication classes and even journalism in some respect gives students a lot of tools for college and for life,” Kozian said. “You learn a lot of things. For example, working with a group of other people to accomplish a goal. To get something printed and out every month, they have to manage their time and be organized. Interviewing helps with people skills. It applies for a lot of different areas across the board.”

While Kozian credits the subject for honing these skills, Kozian’s students praise the teacher.

“Ms. Kozian is an amazing person,” said James Coller, an editor on The North Star. “Very few people in this world have what it takes to run a successful publication. Ms. Kozian works tirelessly and she is always there for anyone. Her heart and her generosity seem to be never-ending.”

Kozian remained unaware she had even been nominated, let alone won the Golden Pen, until her name was called during the conference’s award ceremony.

“A lot of people would expect to be recognized for any work they do, but when she was that surprised and could barely speak because of her tears, it was easy to detect her genuine spirit,” Rath said. “Overall, Koz is simply amazing. Words cannot describe how in debt The North Star is to her. We all love her and her talents and hard work do not go unnoticed. She deserved this award more than anyone else, and clearly MIPA thought the same.”

The Golden Pen is awarded by MIPA each year to an outstanding adviser of a junior or high school publication.