•Carol Richtsmeier, called Richie by her students, currently teaches at a public high school located just south of Dallas where she advises both the school newspaper and yearbook while she waits to be discovered by Oprah. She also is a free-lance writer and journalism workshop instructor.

•Prior to teaching, she was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News.

•She received the 2005 Courage in Student Journalism Award from the national Newseum, Student Press Law Center and National Scholastic Press Association. She was the first teacher to ever receive this award, so it’s not surprising that this is the one that she is the most proud of. (If you’re nice, she might tell you about it sometime. Or, you can go to the following site and read the press release.)

•She’s passionate about the First Amendment (obviously), walks on the beach, summer…oh, wait, scratch that…this isn’t MySpace…

•In 2002, she was named the Texas state journalism Teacher of the Year.

•She recently was named a 2009 Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Distinguished Adviser. You can read about that here.

•She detests stupidity, but is easily amused.

•She lives in a small Texas town with her husband of a gazillion years, three dogs and two cats.