Greetings! I hope you and yours are safe and healthy.  As we all move to an online teaching model for the fall, I’m sure there is stress and anxiety caused by not knowing exactly what this school year will look like or what it will bring. Many of us are genuinely concerned for our health and safety as well as that of our students, colleagues and family. With this in mind, AIPA wants to be a source of help, not stress to our advisers.

After much discussion, the board has decided to postpone the AIPA Fall Convention to the spring. No solidified dates have been set, but we are hoping that we can conduct our state convention in person some time in March. Knowing that many of our advisers are unable to even visit their campuses, we have also postponed our fall contest deadline to August 31. We hope this new date will allow you time to access the resources necessary to enter your school into the contest. Our plan is to announce the contest winners at the convention when it is held in the spring.

Additionally, through our website, we plan to offer resources for teaching a scholastic journalism program online and a virtual adviser day is in the works.

We’re here for you, so if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to reach out to us and, as always, thank you for your support of scholastic journalism in Arizona!

Respectfully,

Melanie Allen

AIPA President