Teacher Feature November 2025: Morgan Bricker

Each month, we spotlight and celebrate an educator in our community.

Morgan Bricker is a journalism teacher and adviser for the Weir Student Media program at Weir High School in Weirton, W.Va., where her students produce a news website, yearbook, daily announcements, and a senior video.

She earned a master’s degree in journalism education from Kent State University and has spent 19 years teaching journalism and advising student media programs in Ohio and West Virginia.

Morgan currently serves as president of the newly formed West Virginia Scholastic Media Association, Journalism Education Association (JEA) State Director for West Virginia, and blog coordinator for the JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee. She also worked closely with the Student Press Law Center, WVSMA stakeholders, and student journalists to help pass New Voices legislation in West Virginia.

Discover Morgan’s favorite lessons, pro tips, and her advocacy work helping protect student press freedom in the Q&A below.

How long have you been using StoryMaker resources? Almost 4 years

What’s your favorite StoryMaker lesson or prompt? Honestly, I could say “ALL OF THEM!”—but if I have to choose, I’d highlight how SRL and StoryMaker saved me when I first dove into video journalism. I’d taken one broadcast course during my master’s program, but I had no background and didn’t feel confident teaching it. Then, in 2021, my students decided they wanted to start a new video announcements program; how could I say no? I threw myself into learning, researching, and teaching alongside them. That’s when I discovered SRL and StoryMaker. The curriculum roadmaps (found in the Toolbox), lessons, and resources gave me the guidance I needed to confidently help my students launch a program they still produce today.

What’s a media-making tool or resource you can’t live without? Because our staff has limited video camera equipment, our students often use their phones to create content, so we cannot live without our gimbals and microphone sets that they use to stabilize their video and record quality sound.

What’s your advice for teachers and educators just getting started on StoryMaker?  Take it one step at a time. It’s easy to get overwhelmed, feel unequipped, and intimidated by the awesome content other schools are producing. But you and your students can do this. Start simple. It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as the kids are learning, enjoying what they’re doing, telling stories about what matters to them, and growing along the way, that’s all that matters!

Links to student work: Weir Student Media

Here are some additional links about our efforts to enact the New Voices law in West Virginia!

What’s a dream story you’d like to report on or a person you’d like to interview? Oh, this is a hard one! When I was in high school, I was bound and determined to be a “real” journalist in New York City or Boston. My younger self would dream to interview *NSYNC! My elementary school teachers were prophetic, though, when they called me “little mother hen” to my classmates and predicted I’d be a teacher. 

Now, I get to live the best of both worlds, doing my journalism teaching thing. My dream stories involve journalism education: working with JEA and SPLC, writing and coordinating blogs advocating for student press freedom and news literacy, and helping everyone see how student journalism nurtures democracy and our First Amendment free press rights.

We love that connection you make between student journalism and democracy. Can you share a bit more about your work with the Student Press Law Center? What kind of projects or advocacy have you been involved in there, and what impact have you seen?

I’ve always believed scholastic media programs are incubators for democracy. If we’re to have a free press and truly uphold our First Amendment freedoms, we need to train students to be responsible, ethical journalists who understand their rights and responsibilities, both now and in the future. That all starts in our classrooms.

My work with the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) began in 2021, when I helped advocate for a New Voices bill in West Virginia to protect student press freedom. After several attempts and a lot of persistence from my students, we finally saw it pass in 2023, a true testament to their civic engagement and belief in the First Amendment. There were moments we thought the bill had died again, but the students never gave up. In movie-like fashion, it was one of the very last bills to pass on the final day of the session, and Governor Jim Justice signed the Student Journalist Press Freedom Protection Act into law that April. It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my teaching career to witness their persistence and will in action.

Since then, I’ve continued working with SPLC to ensure local compliance and to share our journey at national conferences. I also serve as a liaison between SPLC and the West Virginia Scholastic Media Association, helping advisers and schools understand and implement these protections. With the support of Marshall University and West Virginia University, I’ve helped organize teacher workshops where SPLC staff speak directly with advisers about our New Voices law.

Through all of this, student press freedom, law, and ethics have become a deep passion for me and my students. Every student deserves these same protections, and our work isn’t done until all 50 states, or the federal government, guarantees them.

One standout moment was receiving our first First Amendment Press Freedom Award. Seeing my students’ hard work recognized on a national level has inspired lasting pride and motivation in our program. And if you ask them, their favorite moments might just be our annual cookie cakes celebrating Scholastic Journalism Week and Student Press Freedom Day.

Currently listening to: Gilmore Girls fall playlists on Spotify

Fun fact: My side hustle has always been softball! After playing t-ball, I played softball from age nine through college as a pitcher, first baseman, and third baseman. I’ve coached teams at three different high schools and continue to offer pitching lessons. My husband also played baseball, and now our son does, too, so it’s a family activity. I serve on the Weirton Baseball Association board, where my husband and I grew up playing and our son plays now, helping develop the program for local youth.

You can reach out to Morgan directly to learn more about how she’s integrated StoryMaker into her classroom. Email her at morgan.bricker@k12.wv.us