NIE Staff

Dr. Ann Marie Steele, Newspaper in Education (NIE) & Community Services Manager, a graduate of Temple University’s College of Education, is a former Lancaster County public high school administrator, business manager, and classroom teacher. With over 800,000 free Lancaster Newspapers delivered annually to local schools, Ann Marie believes that the newspaper is a non-traditional “text” that promotes literacy through youth readership. “The focus of our division is to encourage learning, literacy, and an appreciation of journalism through life-long readership of the newspaper,” she says, (Newspaper Association of America Foundation (NAA) effort led by University of Minnesota researcher Dan Sullivan found that the more often students used newspapers in schools, the more their standardized test scores increased.) The role of NIE in the community is to provide educators with resources and events that will enable them to “showcase” their students’ mastery of the academics. When Ann Marie is not coordinating the Intelligencer Journal Championship Spelling Bee or the James Hale Steinman Memorial Scholarship, she enjoys public speaking and assisting her staff with NIE contests and events. At the state level, Ann Marie serves as a member of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association (PNA) NIE Committee and  PNA's Youth & New Readership Committee.

Lauren Stack Ditmore, Marketing & Education Specialist joined NIE in November of 2006. Lauren grew up in Lancaster County and graduated from Hempfield High School. She received her Bachelors degree in Communication and Rhetoric from the University of Pittsburgh. While earning her bachelors degree, she worked at the Pittsburgh City Paper as a Marketing and Event Promotions intern where she gained valuable experiences in newspaper operations and event planning and promotion. As an NIE coordinator, she is responsible for NIE Week, the Sunday News Student Press Awards, and the Summer Fun Reading Challenge. Lauren is very enthusiastic and looks forward to her third year of coordinating events that promote youth readership and showcase the talents of students in Lancaster County.

Monica Witmer, Marketing & Education Assistant, has worked for Lancaster Newspapers, Inc. since 1986 and, specifically, the Newspaper in Education Division since 2000. She finds great satisfaction with the idea that children are the focus of everything we do. As the mother of three children, and the grandmother of two, she recognizes the importance of educating children and encourages students to become more involved with all that NIE has to offer. Monica says, "NIE provides educational support for parents, teachers and students through a variety of entertaining programs. Take advantage of these educational opportunities. We make learning fun!”