It’s not unusual that a teacher makes a big impact on his or her students; look around the classrooms in Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties and you’ll find many who have changed their students’ lives for the better on a daily basis.
But Michael Moon is special. The journalism teacher is wrapping up his seventh year at
Moon had a specific vision when he restarted The Viking Press, a paper that had been defunct for at least five years: to make it the best high school newspaper in
He has succeeded on a grand scale.
The Viking Press has been an All-North Carolina publication with the N.C. Scholastic Media Association — the highest distinction for a publication of its size each of the past three years. The paper’s website won the Tar Heel Award two of the last three years, the top award reserved for the best publications, regardless of the size of the school.
The Viking Press earned first place with special merit in the American Scholastic Press Association last year — the first time TVP had been entered in the contest.
But Moon’s pride and joy are his students — and they’ve reflected the success of their teacher.
His journalism students have won a whopping 70 individual awards for writing, editing, photography and design in the last four years. Resita Cox — now a student at UNC and intern with the N.C. Scholastic Media Association and a former intern with The Free Press — was the N.C. High School Journalist of the Year in 2012. At least three more of his students have graduated from college with degrees in journalism fields — with many more coming in future years.
I have written or worked for professional newspapers since 1992 and have seen many, many high school newspapers all over the state, from Charlotte to Raleigh to Winston-Salem and all over Eastern North Carolina and I feel very comfortable making this statement: There is not a better high school newspaper in the state of North Carolina than the one Moon and his students put out on a monthly basis.
It’s because of the direction, expertise and love of journalism of Michael Moon that The Viking Press has been so successful.
Moon has not only been a great influence to KHS students in the classroom, he’s also performed solidly as an athletics coach for the Vikings, leading young people in softball and tennis. Whenever Kinston High School athletics directors Wells Gulledge and Perry Tyndall needed him to lead a team, Moon stepped up to the plate (pun intended!) and became the head coach of several squads at the school.
Sadly — at least to
The Free Press and I salute Michael Moon for the impact he’s had on dozens of young students in his tenure at
Bryan C. Hanks is the managing editor of The Free Press; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at BCHanks.