'The beauty of public education': NPSF inducts two into Hall of Honor

Apr. 23—On Monday, the Norman Public Schools Foundation inducted two journalists into its Hall of Honor.

Jennifer Johnson Hicks and Andy Rieger, who graduated from Norman High in 1998 and 1975, respectively, were the guests of honor at Monday' luncheon. Both went from Norman High to the University of Oklahoma and proceeded to work their way up into leadership positions in newsrooms.

"Wow, two journalists honored at the same time. Last time this happened, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were cub reporters chasing a burglary story for a small, family-owned newspaper called The Washington Post," Rieger joked.

Johnson Hicks is a senior editor at the Wall Street Journal, where she focuses on audience growth. Rieger retired as the editor-in-chief of the Norman Transcript in 2015 and now teaches as an adjunct professor at OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications.

"As this luncheon approached, I was thinking a lot about my upbringing and all the experiences that led me to this point, and I came to the conclusion that Norman is a place that has both grounded me and given me wings," Johnson Hicks said. "At the heart of that story is Norman Public Schools."

Brook Meiller, Johnson Hicks' sophomore English teacher, characterized her as a "triple-threat": a talented student, athlete and leader.

"She was the type of student that, as teachers, we support them and then just enjoy watching them fly," Meiller said. "We are so lucky to have had a front row seat to watch her rise."

Johnson Hicks stayed busy through high school by working for the school newspaper and yearbook and participating in student government. She was also an Oklahoma Senate page and a National Cheerleaders Association All-American.

Johnson Hicks graduated from the University of Oklahoma with degrees in journalism and political science, where she served as the editor-in-chief of the OU Daily, and received a master's in journalism from Columbia University.

She also interned with the Oklahoman's Washington Bureau and spent two summers with the Boston Globe before taking a job with the Wall Street Journal in 2004.

"It's certainly been a wild ride. I've been involved in covering five presidential elections and just as many Olympic games," Johnson Hicks said. "I've traveled all over the world for work, from Hong Kong to Davos to Silicon Valley. I've met Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg and talked about the future of journalism."

Johnson Hicks credited her teachers and mentors for nurturing her passions, taking the time to name several of them by name.

"The seed for all of these ambitions and achievements was planted and grew in Norman," she said. "Not only was it the experiences available to me — whether that was yearbook or newspaper, student government, cheerleading — but it was the supportive community around me that helped me thrive."

One of the figures in the community she looked up to was none other than Rieger, who is the first to admit he had a much less illustrious public school career than Johnson Hicks. In fact, he joked his grades "made the top half of my class possible."

"I ran with a pretty tough crowd," Rieger said. "But you know, that's the beauty of public education. It may be the last great equalizer of our Jeffersonian democracy. Those classmates that were out of my social, or academic, or athletic league, were still friends and acquaintances. We all had a common goal of finishing high school together."

Rieger took a job in The Transcript's mailroom in 1995, while he was still in high school. He worked alongside his future wife, Karen, who worked in bookkeeping. He continued working at the paper through his time at OU, where he earned a bachelor's in journalism and a master's in public administration.

Rieger commended the NPSF's work to enrich learning opportunities for Norman's children, no matter the circumstances they come from.

"Private schools have their place, but they don't have the mandate to welcome and educate everyone," Rieger said. "Every day, our public schools provide opportunities for everyone, regardless of zip code, regardless of parents, and regardless of the language they bring to the front door."

Since its founding 40 years ago, the NPSF has raised $4 million for grants and classroom improvements — and $1.5 million of that total has been raised in the past five years alone.

"Public education is not any different than any other enterprise in Oklahoma: they're trying to make every dollar count," said Jim Wade, a member of the NPSF's Board of Directors. "Our foundation steps in the gap.

"We step in the gap to try to provide those opportunities for those children and those teachers, to improve an incredible experience in their public education, so that they can end up in Brooklyn, so that they can be a hometown hero."