Alyce Culpepper

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Story's Not Over For Teacher Alyce Culpepper

The Miami Herald
Thursday, June 12, 1997
Hometown Herald BSE, Page: 2SE
By Yvonne Bertucci Zum Tobel

Alyce Culpepper's energy is intoxicating. Her excitement is infectious. The 1986 National Journalism Teacher of the Year has taught in Broward County for the past 30 years. Now she is retiring.

Culpepper started her career in 1967 as an English teacher at Hallandale Junior High School. From 1970 to 1971 she taught English at Miramar High School. In 1971, she began a 19-year tenure at South Plantation High School.

During her time there, she was the school's Teacher of the Year five times, was the track and cross country coach, became the first female athletic director in Florida, established a literary/art magazine, and taught yearbook, newspaper and TV production.

``A teacher can make you enjoy a class and make a student want to learn or not. I've always tried to make my kids want to come to class,'' Culpepper said. She says her secret to good teaching and eager students is hands-on instruction. ``I like to refer to it as cooperative learning. In 1967 they called it group work.''

For the past seven years, Culpepper has been the student production teacher at Instructional Television Center (ITV) in Fort Lauderdale. ITV was founded 30 years ago with a federal grant whose objective was to help teachers improve their skills.

In 1990, Culpepper established the Student News Bureau at ITV of Broward County, where students and teachers produce two televisions series, Broward Teen News and Profiles, as well as occasional special productions. These shows air to more than 1 million viewers on all the cable systems in Broward County. Broward Teen News airs Monday through Friday, from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. In Plantation, it airs on Channel 19.

The program began with six member schools in 1990, and since then, the Students News Bureau has grown to include the 23 Broward schools. ``We are so lucky in Broward County to have so many high schools in a consolidated area,'' Culpepper said.

Sandy Melillo has been teaching English at Northeastern High School for 23 years. Four years ago, she started teaching television. ``Many of my students go on to do this professionally -- as anchors, reporters and journalists. Alyce always insists on excellence in journalism and teaches that writing is the key,'' Melillo said. Culpepper wrote grants so each of the schools involved could have $20,000 in television equipment. ``Alyce gave us a base to start with -- a camera and a top line editor. Now, I raise money by writing grants and with other school events,'' Melillo said. ``We're going to really miss Alyce and her energy -- she's a Renaissance woman.''

``Mrs. Culpepper is a great teacher. She's my mentor. She taught me to take pride in myself both in front of and behind the camera,'' said LaToya Hunter, an anchor for Broward Teen News for the past two years. Hunter is a senior at Northeastern High School in Oakland Park. She plans on studying broadcast journalism at Florida A & M University in Tallahassee or Miami-Dade Community College this fall.

Several of Culpepper's students have become anchors and reporters. Roger Harvey is a news anchor in Indianapolis; Valerie McCarthy is vice president of Nickelodeon Latin America; Brandon Hawthorne is the president of Hawthorne Publishing; and Joan Ryan, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, is an author and was the first woman to cover the Super Bowl. ``It is extremely rewarding to me that so many of my students are practicing some form of journalism,'' Culpepper said.

Culpepper has been a Plantation resident for seven years. She says her husband of 29 years, Lee, has been instrumental in her career. Owner of Video Production Associates in Oakland Park, he lent ITV the equipment to shoot the pilot for Broward Teen News. They have two children, Daniel, 15, and Martin, 21, who attends the University of Florida.

After retiring as a teacher, Culpepper will work as a consultant for her husband's company. ``I'm only 52 -- I'm not ready to retire. I have to take the first year of retirement in order to receive a pension from the school board. I can teach in Broward County again in a year -- who knows what I'll do? In the future I can see myself teaching middle school, high school, or maybe even college,'' Culpepper said.

Three Broward Students Win
Culpepper Journalism Scholarships

10 Jun 1999
The Miami Herald
Section: Hometown Plantation/Sunrise, Edition: Broward, Page: 3ps
By Carolyn Salazar, Herald Staff Writer

Alyce Culpepper, who never wanted to be a journalist, has made a significant mark in that field.

The former South Plantation High School journalism teacher spearheaded the Student News Bureau at ITV (Instructional Television Center) of Broward County, founded a literary/art magazine at South Plantation High, improved the school newspaper to make it one of the best in the country and trained many journalists.

After retiring from South Plantation High two years ago, her legacy has continued. She established the Culpepper Journalism Foundation to promote excellence in education.

Through her foundation, which was established with the Broward Education Foundation, three high school juniors won scholarships this year to attend a summer journalism institute at a university of their choice. The fellowship requires that students return to share their newfound knowledge with their classmates.

Beth Stone of South Plantation High, Jenya Rhone of Boyd Anderson High School in Lauderdale Lakes and Yoleine Dumarsais of Northeast High School in Oakland Park each will receive $300 to help pay for the summer institutes.

"I always wanted to do something so students could learn more than what their high school teacher could teach them," said Culpepper, now a professor at Lynn University in Boca Raton. "I felt like this was something positive, and this was something I always wanted to do."

Beth, who will be co-editor of her school's yearbook, and Yoleine, who will be head producer of special projects in her TV production class, will attend the summer institute at the University of Florida.

"Anything interesting that I learn there I will come back and teach my staff," Beth said.

Jenya, who will join her school's yearbook staff next year, is attending a program by Herff Jones Publishing Co. in Deerfield Beach at the end of July. She hopes to learn more about journalism and broadcasting to help her determine which field she wants to pursue, and to teach the lessons she learned to her yearbook staff next year.

Julie Leventhal, a senior at South Plantation High School, was the first recipient of the Culpepper Journalism Foundation Fellowship. She is this year's winner of The Herald's prestigious Silver Knight Award in journalism. She also is a Herald high school correspondent.

Culpepper said she hopes the fellowship awards continue to grow and help students. The generosity of her friends and alumni have helped her foundation take shape upon her retirement, and she hopes more people are willing to help.

"Ultimately, we hope to have a fellowship winner at every high school in Broward," she said.
e-mail: csalazar@herald.com

Also see a biography of Alyce on her Culpepper Journalism Foundation Web Site.

Culpepper Ancestry. See husband Lee Culpepper's page. Also see page for her son, Daniel.