Jed Carlson is a photojournalist for the Superior Telegram, and works mostly on reporting high school sports in the region. On his lunch break, Carlson is an advisor for our very own Spartan Spin. 

Carlson is a realist. He isn’t afraid to call someone out if they are wrong, and that is something lots of people cannot do. He has the special ability to give the most critical feedback in a super understandable way. This helps a lot of students improve their grade because of how specific it is, and he is able to help students plan out their next steps for their story. 

“He’s not afraid to be honest with his feedback,” Spartan Spin advisor Elise Hintzman said. “He is not someone who ever tries to curb whatever he is thinking or hide his feedback. I think that’s really really important for high school students to hear.”  

On the normal day-to-day, Carlson will help Hintzman with the activity or lesson. If the topic is on something that Carlson is familiar with, like photography, he goes more in depth about it. Sometimes, he co-leads lessons, and other times he is there to help manage the room. This happens more frequently in the class hours with more students. 

Even though he might come off as a tough and stoic person, he also enjoys a good laugh and loves working with kids. I learned this in the first week I had started to come up to the Spin room for lunch, and Carlson met me at the door. 

“Nobody wants to see both your legs and arms at the same time. I can either see your arms or legs, but not both,” he told me. 

He then told me that starting the next day, I would have to wear either pants or sleeves during lunch. At first, I thought he was joking, but he was dead serious. We eventually agreed that I could wear short sleeves and shorts on the first day of spring. 

I made a new deal with him later on that I could wear sleeves when it was 72 degrees out, and it quickly became a running joke in Spin. A couple weeks later, he found my reporter pass that I had left behind in class, and he said he would return it but for a price. He told me I could have my pass back, but the temperature was increased to 75 degrees. Knowing I had no other option, I took the deal.

Carlson is motivated to help Spin students learn about journalism and the world of the media.

“I hope that in a way, I’m helping people out.” Carlson said. “Even if they have nothing to do with journalism ever in their lives, I hope they understand what things take to produce news and to do it the right way.”