Dave Winter is always on the move. Situated in the center of the school, a location he adores, room 134 is often referred to as the most lively place on campus. You may find Winter editing newspaper pages, or hanging an ILPC Gold Star award on the wall, or returning a bell to the main hall trophy case won by the varsity football team at the annual ‘Battle of the Bell’ rivalry game or you might just hear his infectious laughter. Either way, Winter is known by everybody. And his presence on campus will be greatly missed by the McCallum community at the end of this school year when he exits his almost ten-year career as adviser of The Shield.
Winter’s career in journalism began at a young age, even before high school or college. His coverage included anything from the neighborhood lemonade stand to the “sandlot” games.
“I remember doing newspapers as a kid, although it wasn’t much of a newspaper,” Winter said. “I would write stories up and do a single sheet with stories on it and design all over it. It was terrible, I’m sure, but I always liked the idea of writing stories and trying to publish them.”
As a high school student, Winter said that’s when his interest in reporting and designing flourished. As the design editor for the school paper, he was able to contribute to all the fun parts of his class without having to be the stricter, “buck stops here” leader like an editor-in-chief.
Entering college at UT Austin, Winter decided to take a year off from newspaper and focus on his classes and joining other extracurriculars.
“I took a year to get acclimated to college at UT, and I just waited for [newspaper] to call back to me. If it did, then I’d know that I miss it and I want to do it for sure,” Winter said. “I missed it.”
Winter applied to be a writer for The Daily Texan during his sophomore year, writing a tryout column on why Barbara Bush should vote for Michael Dukakis. That led to him becoming a sports writer, covering the lesser-known Longhorn sports.
“I did a story about the Texas Crew, a rowing feature, and a feature profile on a women’s track athlete,” Winter said. “I eventually worked my way up to being the sports editor at the Texan, and I was the general sports reporter who covered the baseball team.”
Winter participated heavily in every aspect of The Daily Texan, saying that journalism in college was “my jam.”
“I was working 60 hours a week on the newspaper, I was just fully entrenched in it and loved being a part of the team,” Winter said. “I just loved being a part of the community of talented individuals and covering stuff that would raise issues and make positive changes.”
After graduating, Winter had a big decision to make: begin a professional career in journalism or become a teacher to help create future reporters. Winter chose the latter and moved to California, teaching history and English. He followed the same guidance that led him to the Texan, to take a year off and wait for a calling.
“I didn’t even talk to anybody about my journalism experience during my first year in California,” Winter said.
Following his first year of teaching, Winter moved from the west coast to Atlanta after a budget crisis in California public schools led to mass layoffs.
“I was what they called a ‘floating teacher,’ so I had a big metal cart with sharp edges and big rubber wheels, and I had to push it from classroom to classroom because they had more teachers than classrooms and I was the new person,” Winter said. “At the end of that year, they said ‘Hey, Dave, you want a classroom?’ and I was like ‘yes, I do.’”
However, in order to get a classroom of his own, Winter would have to advise the school yearbook, a position he agreed to quickly. After a few years, the newspaper adviser at his school in Wheeler, Georgia approached him with the opportunity to help with the student paper. With over a decade of experience advising newspapers in the greater Atlanta area, Winter and his wife, along with their children Henry and Annabelle, made the decision to move back to Texas.
“I initially wanted to be [at McCallum] because I wanted my kids to go here, and then I also wanted to be a teacher at the school where my kids attended,” Winter said. “This was the perfect place because Henry was in eighth grade and Annabelle was in sixth grade when we moved so I could get acclimated and then the three of us would be here together.”
As the new adviser of the yearbook and newspaper on campus, Winter realized with the size of the school and multitude of activities to cover, he had a big transition ahead of him. That transition began with Peer Assistance and Leadership Service or the PALS.
“Two of my three main editors were in PALS and the schedule was such that PALS conflicted with the one newspaper class, so they made it very clear that PALS was number one and I had to adjust,” Winter said. “As the new guy, I tried my best to not ruffle everybody’s feathers.”
The next issue Winter faced was replacing the previous newspaper adviser Rhonda Moore, a beloved McCallum teacher of 16 years. Winter said his main goal throughout his first school year was to earn the trust of his new staff.
“The thing I remember most about my first year is that the yearbook and the newspaper staff gave me a chance and we had a good experience,” Winter said. “They had a really great paper before I got here so when I looked at the program I knew that social media was the thing that I thought we could really bulk up.”
Winter’s initial goal for his staff was to make social media a bigger deal and laid out his plan to post once a day, every school day on Instagram. Since he made that declaration, @macjournalism has posted every school day for nearly ten years.
At the ILPC Spring Convention, April 13, Winter received the Max Haddick Teacher of the Year Award. In his acceptance speech in the LBJ Auditorium, Winter said that the reason he is recognized for his work is because of his students. One of those students was Alice Scott, a former editor-in-chief and a 2024 graduate. Scott also received the JEA Journalist of the Year award that same year. Prior to that, in 2022, she was named the 2022 NSPA Broadcast Journalist of the Year.
One of the biggest lessons Winter has learned is the importance of taking a step back as the teacher and letting his students lead the way.
“We had a few years of just outstanding reporters like Grace Nugent, Anna McClelland and later Samantha Powers, Alyssa Spiro and Madeylnn Niles and Lucy Marco,” Winter said. “They were so talented but I struggled with getting in the way of my students when they’re supposed to be doing the stuff that I teach them.”
Winter decided to put this challenge of his to the test by attending a football game versus Dripping Springs High School. However, instead of reporting from the field, Winter stayed seated in the stands as his staff worked the game.
“We were playing this team that we were not supposed to win against but in the fourth quarter we came roaring back and scored two or three touchdowns to get really close to winning the game,” Winter said. “I was looking around to see if any photographers are in the right place to get the picture that we need to show this moment of this huge touchdown that just happened and I was going crazy telling myself that I should have been on the field so I could’ve been in the correct position and ‘what was I thinking?’”
To his surprise, Nugent and McClelland were running full speed toward him, racing to be the first ones to show the pictures they took of the major play.
“I realized that this is what it’s all about, the fact that they’re excited that they got the picture, and they’re so excited that they are sprinting to me to show it to me,” Winter said. “This is how it is supposed to work, and I did the right thing by taking myself out of the situation. I haven’t always been good and consistent at that but it feels really good.”
Winter believes that the newspaper’s role as a resource is not just covering the latest sports game or fine arts event, but also rallies and political coverage. The social media response tends to be lively and mixed. Winter also leads one of the few high school journalism programs that focuses on a physical print paper along with a heavy online and social media presence.
Before becoming a teacher at McCallum, Webster noticed The Shield’s online posting and its impact on the school community.
“I think the student body who are not even involved in newspaper have a lot of respect for what the newspaper program does here,” Webster said. “One of the things that Mr. Winter has done better than any place in the country is the online stuff that MacJ does. It is a showstopper of success that nobody else is doing, and he has really leaned into listening to students on what works and what doesn’t work.”
As a journalism teacher, Webster said he respects Winter’s efforts to highlight journalistic ethics and the fundamentals of reporting, qualities he has implemented in his own classes.
“When I see a posting on MacJ with great photography, along with it are these incredible long captions and the level of depth and quality that goes into those posts is truly astounding,” Webster said. “I think we take for granted here at McCallum that we have this incredible component to the newspaper class. There’s no one else doing it.”
Winter said one of the biggest challenges the newspaper program faces is balancing commitments to both the print paper and online paper. He pointed out that most high schools have transitioned to a completely paperless program, whereas he has seen a large effort by the staff and student body to continue publishing print editions every year.
At the end of every school year, Winter selects the staffing positions for the upcoming year. Positions include editors-in-chief, section editors, print and web managing editors, and many more. One of the qualities he said he looks to see in an editor is their willingness to go above and beyond in everything they do.
“When I see a kid who is all in—150%—and they are trying to do the right thing, it energizes me,” Winter said. “People who always step up to the challenges we face every day inspire me.”
In August of 2023, a group of agitators arrived on campus during dismissal bearing signs and microphones and shouted anti-abortion and anti-trans rhetoric. After the demonstrators left campus, the newspaper class faced a difficult decision. How do you cover a group of people who arrived on a high school campus with the singular goal to disrupt? In an editorial meeting between Winter and the editors, Winter watched as his students debated how best to cover the day’s events. In the end, the staff chose to highlight the community’s response to the agitators instead of their rhetoric.
“We were fully engaged in dealing with this issue, and as a teacher, it felt so good as the teacher to see us have that conversation and discover what our goal was going to be in our coverage,” Winter said. “It was such a powerful group conversation and we were all in it together.”
Winter admits that he doesn’t know everything, but said that he learns a lot from students who come to his class with their own skills learned previously. Scott joined the newspaper program after working on KBTV, the Kealing Middle School news channel, and began teaching Winter the ins and outs of broadcasting.
As for being a good reporter, Winter said it comes from wanting to interact with new people and write about their hobbies and interests.
“Being curious is a huge part of being a staffer and wanting to meet new people and tell their stories,” Winter said. “You get to tell the story of somebody talking about their thing—the thing that matters to them more than anything, and that is really fun.”
While the community awaits an announcement for who will be the next adviser, Winter gave a glimpse at the advice he will leave for his replacement.
“If the students know that you care about them and the newspaper, that’s the first thing you need because then the students will be right there with you,” Winter said. “Try to push the students as hard as you can to do the best work they can do.”
Winter said he struggled to make his decision to step back from Mac but is ready to have more free time on his hands and watch the success of the newspaper from afar.
“By far I will miss the students the most,” Winter said. “The hardest part about leaving a teaching job is leaving those that are not graduating and the people that are coming back next year. It’s hard to duck out on them. But if you try and wait until there aren’t stellar students, that’s just not going to happen and then I’ll be here forever.”
With the range of stories published every year, many of the staff’s sources tend to be faculty members, whom Winter points out to be consistently willing to help out and share their thoughts, a group he will deeply miss.
“This faculty is really amazing at supporting the work of the program,” Winter said. “They come through and help us when they have plenty on their plate already. It is a special faculty all the way up to the administration. They have been willing to let us have the freedom to explore stories and have been open with getting interviewed.”
The Shield is one of the longest-running high school newspaper publications in the state of Texas. Winter said he has great faith that the legacy of the program will continue to only grow due to the generations of excellence at the school and the incoming leadership. He hopes to leave a major impact on the success of the program’s online and social media outreach.
“When you sign up for newspaper with Mr. Winter, you’re doing in-depth, real-world writing in a way that nobody else can teach it,” Webster said. “I think he wakes up every day and says, “How can we improve this and make this better, make this more relevant to young people, make this more relevant not just to the staff, but to their peers?”
