At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, April 17, faculty, alumni, and the KO News staff gathered in the Community Commons for the annual Warren Baird Journalism Dinner. The dinner was named by KO News alumni in honor of longtime KO News faculty advisor and English teacher, Warren Baird. This year’s dinner was different than in years prior: instead of welcoming back alumni, the dinner honored and celebrated history teacher and former KO News faculty advisor, Robert Kyff.
Before the dinner began, guests were presented with a table of KO News archives from when Mr. Kyff was the faculty advisor. Before enjoying a dinner provided by Sage Dining, English teacher and current KO News faculty advisor Cathy Schieffelin highlighted Mr. Kyff’s extraordinary impact on alumni, some of whom attended the dinner. After dinner, senior and former Co-editor-in-chief Juliana Chipelo introduced Mr. Kyff and welcomed him to the podium.
Mr. Kyff began with a short anecdote about when he first fell in love with journalism. He shared that after getting to visit the control room of Channel 11 in elementary school, he went home and built his own control room out of cardboard boxes. His passion only grew as he started a neighborhood newspaper and wrote for his high school newspaper.
He then went on to major in American Studies, with a concentration in American Literature at Amherst College. Mr. Kyff shared that due to a difficult first assignment, he never wrote for Amherst’s newspaper. He then stressed the importance of perseverance, a trait that proved to be rather important later in life. He then went on to obtain his Master of Arts in American Studies from the University of Minnesota.
After graduation, Mr. Kyff worked for Twin Cities Opportunities Industrialization Center, where he learned to edit newsletters, write press releases, and act like a spokesperson, a job which he really enjoyed. He then decided to take a job at the Target Stores headquarters, as an editor for the employee magazine, as well as producing a monthly newsletter. While he loved the journalism aspect of it, he didn’t love the corporate environment.
This led him to pursue another passion of his: teaching. He applied to a plethora of private schools across New England and eventually landed at KO as an English teacher. Eventually, Mr. Kyff switched into the history department and in recent years has been teaching part-time as an AP United States History teacher.
Mr. Kyff also reminisced on his time as the faculty advisor for the KO News, a position which he held from 1989 to 2017. Throughout his tenure, the KO News staff published a range of risky articles, but at the end of the day, he stressed the importance of a student-controlled paper, a sentiment left by previous faculty advisor, Mr. Baird, whom the dinner is named after.
Mr. Kyff also shared his experiences as a published journalist and author. Mr. Kyff again highlighted the importance of perseverance when telling the story of how he began writing for the Hartford Current. America’s oldest newspaper had an opening for a syndicated language column that Mr. Kyff really enjoyed reading. He reached out and sent a few sample columns and was met with rejection. However, he persisted and sent more sample columns a few weeks later, and then eventually got the column! Mr. Kyff has also written op-eds for many major newspapers, including the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, among many others. He also writes a word column, which has earned him the nickname “The Word Guy.”
Eventually, his work got turned into books, and now Mr. Kyff is the author of five books that consist of syndicated columns. His most recent book, “Gatsby’s Secrets,” is slightly different from his previous books in that he had to write it completely from scratch. The book analyzes Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, each chapter covering a different character.
Towards the end of his speech, Mr. Kyff stressed to the graduating seniors the importance of getting involved with their college newspaper and not making the same mistake that he made. He finished off by reinforcing how crucial perseverance and involvement are to leading a successful career.
This year’s Warren Baird Journalism dinner proved to be a success, and opened a window into the life of journalist, author, and teacher to the KO News staff, faculty, and alumni. We are so grateful for not only Mr. Kyff’s impactful speech, but also his 28 years as the KO News faculty advisor. This paper would truly not be possible without his efforts throughout the years.
We extend our deepest gratitude to Mr. Kyff and can not wait to see what else is in store for the Warren Baird Journalism Dinner!
