North's Higgins Receives JEA Broadcast Adviser Award

Liberty North High School broadcast and newspaper adviser Jennifer Higgins was recognized as the Journalism Education Association's (JEA) 2026 Special Recognition Broadcast Adviser. 

The JEA Broadcast Adviser of the Year program recognizes outstanding secondary advisers across the country for their work.

Higgins has been a member of the Liberty North staff since the school's opening in 2010. She has advised the broadcast program there for over a decade. 

Congratulations to this outstanding journalism adviser! 

Here is what JEA had to say about Jennifer Higgins: 

“In my 15 years of working closely with her, I have seen many journalism advisers come and go, but few possess Jennifer’s innate ability to build meaningful, transformative relationships with students,” Karen Johnson, MJE, adviser at Lawson (Missouri) High School, said. “She does not simply teach technical skills; she fosters a community of trust. Her classroom is a space where students feel safe to take creative risks because they know their adviser is their biggest advocate. This rapport is the foundation behind her program’s success, turning a group of teenagers into a professional, cohesive news team year after year.”

In addition to the daily news show, she developed a sports broadcasting class, and all of her broadcasting students work together to broadcast at least 10 football and basketball games each year.

“Watching her students pull off a live ESPN3 broadcast with the same professionalism as a network crew is, frankly, astounding,” Johnson said.

Parent Kimberly Daniels said Higgins supported her son, Andrew, when he and a friend wanted to broadcast a track meet for the first time.

“Mrs. Higgins’ acceptance and approval of this project grew their experience, knowledge and skills in producing a successful broadcast,” Daniels said. “Instead of being at home with her family, she took on another event that she didn’t have to do, all for her love of her students and the work that she does.”