Gerwe-gettin’-it
A look at The Chatterbox’s loved advisor, Samantha Gerwe-Perkins
Samantha Gerwe-Perkins helps a student with their article. Gerwe-Perkins spends most of her time answering questions and helping students, along with planning mini-lessons for the start of class.
Samantha Gerwe-Perkins is the current advisor of The Chatterbox, The Remembrancer, and other journalism classes, including a broadcast class for the first time this year. She has been the advisor of The Chatterbox since 2010.
Gerwe-Perkins has taught many English classes throughout her career, and decided to make the switch to journalism classes after a request by former principal, Jeff Brokamp, at the end of the 2009-2010 school year. He asked teachers from the English Department to be The Chatterbox club adviser, and if the club got enough interest, it could become a class again.
“That first year I co-advised with Miss Wolf… and it was challenging trying to do everything we wanted to do as a publication in such a limited window of time with a small group of kids,” Gerwe-Perkins said. “So [we] did some recruiting [through] word of mouth. We had enough kids register, and that next school year we were a legit news production class again.”
Some students Gerwe-Perkins has taught have become successful journalists. One such student, Nick Robertson, ‘19, is currently studying journalism abroad, and even got the opportunity to cover Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Another student who continued a career in journalism is Charlie Hatch, ‘13.
“If you’re a big FC Cincinnati fan, Charlie Hatch was our editor-in-chief,” Gerwe-Perkins said. “He covered football games, internationally, like soccer while [he] was a correspondent for the Enquirer.”
Gerwe-Perkins balances her work life with her home life by spending her time intentionally with her kids doing activities such as swimming, baking, playing video games and more. Gerwe-Perkins also believes that sleep is critical for this balance, and that time management is one of the most important factors in maintaining this balance.
“[I’ve] had conversations with [the] kids a couple times this year, about ‘Hey, what can we do to help you balance things?’” Gerwe-Perkins said. “It’s about scheduling stuff, sticking to it and having clear goals. I am a planner-person, so I always have a to-do list.”
Throughout the years that Gerwe-Perkins has been the advisor of The Chatterbox and The Remembrancer, WHHS’ student journalism has become more of a community than a class.
“I think the energy of the students involved in the chatterbox has definitely grown and the ways that it has changed sometimes aren’t necessarily reflected in the paper itself,” Gerwe-Perkins said. “We joke that it’s kind of a lifestyle and it is the most fun you’ll ever have while being stressed out.”
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