Profile

John Wells by Baylee Miller

With 20 years in professional education, JohnWells is an educator and innovator. Starting in 1993 with his first professional teaching position in southern Illinois, Wells has taught English and journalism, as well as advised student yearbooks and newspapers. After four years in Illinois, Wells returned to Evansville to take a position at Mater Dei, teaching English and advising their yearbook and newspaper. There he assumed the role of technology committee co-chair, overseeing the school's investigation of a one-to-one program. In 2005, Wells went up the Hill to take a position at F.J. Reitz HighSchool, taking over their journalism program and teaching inclusion English. For more than a decade, his yearbooks and newspapers have received critical acclaim, with numerous students receiving local, state and national awards. Wells is an active member of the national Journalism Educators Association and has spoke at several of its national conventions. He is on the planning committee of the Southern Illinois School Press Association, co-chairing the on-site competitions and the yearbook contest and has worked closely with the University of Southern Indiana's Media Day. Wells is a father of four, Noah 16, Makenna 5 and 17-month-old twins Landon and Lilah. When he isn't playing peekaboo with the twins, having a tea party with Makenna or teaching Noah how to drive, he is reading young adult fiction and practicing photography.