A local educator who is helping to guide potential future journalists has been recognized for her work, and we hope you all will join us in offering her congratulations.

Morgan Bricker, adviser to the media programs at Weir High School, recently was announced as the recipient of the Candance and John Bowen Advisor First Amendment Leadership Award, which is presented annually to an individual in recognition of their efforts to support, defend and fight for student journalism.

In addition to her teaching at Weir High, Bricker is the state director of the Journalism Education Association in West Virginia and a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee. She was instrumental in the passage of the Student Journalist Press Freedom Protection Act in the Mountain State, a law which protects public high school and college student journalists from censorship and shields advisors from retaliation for supporting student press freedom.

She also has worked to rebuild the West Virginia Scholastic Media Association, connecting teachers from across the state and assisting to develop a strategy in support of student media programs in the state.

All this, plus guiding her own students who have achieved their own recognitions in their defense of the First Amendment while learning not only the basic tenets of journalism but the future of the business.

We are glad to see such efforts from individuals such as Bricker in leading the way for future journalists as they learn how to properly and effectively serve their communities.