Pueblo welcomes our newest edition to the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program teacher, Ms. Lyndsey Bojorquez, a U of A graduate from class of 2008, who was born and raised in Sahuarita, Arizona.
Bojorquez started out her teaching career at Desert View High School and continued onto Baboquivari High School in the AVID program.
AVID is a college preparation program which teaches students various ways and lessons to prepare them for high school and—inevitably—collegiate life.
“I truly believe that AVID just serves the unrepresented students how to get to college,” said Bojorquez, “they [students] don’t classify themselves as smart, so they don’t think they can get to college, but they are.”
Bojorquez aims to teach how to self-motivate, and how to apply yourself in school so students can graduate with a contempt feeling about college and adjusting quickly.
“They [students] think school comes naturally,” she said, “but it doesn’t. You have to learn.”
On Monday, November 14, 2016, Ms. Anita Luera, the director of ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism for high school students, spoke to more than three dozen students in Mr. Rana Medhi’s journalism and Ms. Marie Little’s yearbook programs at Pueblo Magnet High School, primarily discussing the value and power of journalism in our society today.
“Journalism should be about the truth, and our society needs the truth more than ever,” Luera said. “Journalism careers will increase as people will always need news, and hopefully well-balanced, fair, objective news.”
She also promoted the upcoming 2017 Summer Institute at ASU for all students interested in media careers. Students can begin applying for this program as early as January.
Ms. Anita Luera speaks to our yearbook students with Victor Garcia sharing his experience.
Pueblo senior Victor Garcia was encouraged by his media teacher last year, Ms. Pamela Shapiro, to apply—and eventually be accepted to attend the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism Summer Institute last summer. Garcia said that he wanted to explore the modern facilities of the school as well as its technical parts, including the contemporary newsrooms. For two weeks, Garcia worked with other students from mostly Arizona, as well as one student from France.
“We [the students in the program] still keep in touch via group chats,” Garcia said. “That’s how close we became because we had to work together and produced a media package.” He paused and said, “It’s an intense program—you really learn a lot about the world of journalism and have to meet deadlines and be responsible. I would encourage all students who have a general interest in media to apply for this prestigious program.”
Garcia said that he learned a lot about diplomacy in the Summer Institute. “It wasn’t all about journalism,” he said. “My work ethic improved a great deal when I returned this year to Pueblo as a senior.”
Garcia said that he hasn’t firmly committed to a collegiate major, but at this time, he is exploring an option in public policies—somehow involved in the political world.
Luera visited a few other media programs, including radio (with Ms. Sarah Wilson and her students) as well as photography (taught by Ms. Emma Tarazon).
This is Luera’s ninth year of visiting Pueblo Magnet High School, speaking to hundreds of students over the years.
“I never get tired of coming to Pueblo,” Luera said. “Your school [Pueblo] is very fortunate to have so many different media programs—especially as part of your magnet program.”
Anita Luera, a long-time journalist and past president of the Arizona Latino Media Association, is the first director of high school journalism programs for the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Luera oversees an expanding array of high school programs, including national training institutes for high school journalism teachers and students. She also leads school’s outreach programs to high schools around the region that are working to develop and improve their journalism programs.
After 14 years, Ms. Sarah Wilson, continues to improve the only high school radio show in Tucson—KWXL 98.7, at Pueblo Magnet High School.
As Pueblo’s broadcast journalism teacher, Wilson gives students an opportunity to experience what it truly feels like to work at a professional radio station.
“This school year, we were finally able to get some new iMacs,” Wilson said. “This allows me to have more students working on production at a time. I can. I can hold all of my students accountable.”
On Nov. 18, the entire radio staff will participate in a “retreat”, an opportunity for all of the students in the radio program to get better acquainted with their fellow peers.
In the past, Wilson said that this retreat has helped students to bond with one another from other classes because they rarely have time together, unless it’s after school.
One of the biggest dreams that radio anticipates is to one day be able to live stream a Pueblo sporting event over the radio.
Wilson said, “This live-streaming is going to be a group effort between journalism, TV broadcast, and web design and will allow all of our programs to unite and work together. If we can make that happen, we can do anything. The sky is the limit with our communications programs.”
After a quarter century, journalism teacher Mr. Rana Medhi continues to teach beginning and advanced journalism at Pueblo Magnet High School. He was specifically hired in 1992 to rejuvenate the program.
From 1988 until Medhi was hired in 1992, Pueblo did not have a journalism program.
“I was shocked to learn that a high school did not have a journalism program when I interviewed for this job a million years ago,” Medhi said. “At that time in public schools, especially in T.U.S.D., all high schools had a newspaper department.”
Over the years, Medhi said that he has seen an improvement not only in his program but also students commitment for his journalism programs.
“Student participation has increased a great deal over the years,” Medhi said. “Only four students enrolled in the program my first year. The next year, I had more than 40 students involved in journalism. That figure has stayed at about that number over the past 20 years, but I also could and would love to teach 100 students the craft and art of journalism.”
Lauren Ahern, 2016-2017 Editor-in-Chief, with Advisor Mr. Medhi
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Medhi took “a break” from teaching journalism at Pueblo to earn his master’s in education administration. Since 2002, however, he has continuously taught two levels of journalism.
“[Advancements in] technology have made it easier for us to create our newspapers and make them pieces of art,” Medhi said. “The graphics are becoming easier to learn all of the time, and students love this aspect of journalism. Not only are the articles interesting, but their layout is creative.”
Most of students’ stories are posted on the school’s official website; by the end of the school year, students will write an average of 150 stories. And at the end of the year, a hard copy has been a tradition and definitely an expectation, which focuses teacher retirements, spring sports programs and, overwhelmingly, senior-related articles.
Efforts are currently happening to assign specific curricula to students. For example, one or two students could be in charge of all magnet-related stories; another one or two students could cover all science stories. Medhi said that all facets of school life should be reported.
“Our goal is to not leave anybody out of our stories,” he added. “All members of the Pueblo community are unique, hard-working and vital to the Pueblo family.”
Editor-in-chief Lauren Ahern, a senior, has been a devoted member of the journalism program for three years and has great visions for 2016-17.
As the school year begins, Ms. Jalyn Wheatly, our school’s new global issues and U.S. history instructor, begins her first year as a teacher here at Pueblo.
Wheatly originally majored in news broadcasting, but then decided to go back and earn her teaching degree.
“I learned that I really liked teaching better than news broadcasting,” said Wheatly. “I like working with students hands-on and feel that I was meant to be a teacher.”
Thus far early in this school year, Wheatly said that she truly loves working with high school students and feels comfortable in Pueblo’s environment.
“I really like working with young adults, especially the freshmen here,” she said. “I am also receiving a lot of support from the staff, and that definitely contributes to why I love Pueblo so much so early in my time here.”
Before the fall break, Pueblo librarian Ms. Marsha-Jean Burrola constructed a display of banned books in commemoration of the Banned Books Week that began on Sept. 25 and lasted through Oct. 1. However, Burrola said that she wanted to leave the display for a few weeks after the break to maximize the number of students who viewed the banned literary works.
The Banned Books Week Coalition is a national alliance of diverse organizations joined by a commitment to increase awareness of the annual celebration of the freedom to read. The Coalition seeks to engage various communities and inspire participation in Banned Books Week through education, advocacy, and the creation of the programming about the problem of book censorship.
Senior Sara Noriega recently visited the Pueblo library and was dismayed at the number of banned books display, many that she has read in her lifetime.
“I was shocked to learn that some of my all-time favorite books have been banned, including To Kill A Mockingbird, just because of the use of the ‘n’ word,” Noriega said. “Back in the 1930s, in the South, the use of the ‘n’ word was prevalent, unfortunately. But, that’s just the way it was. Even though we know that the ‘n’ word is ugly and offensive, banning a book based on its authenticity and historical context is just ethically and socially wrong.”
She continued, “We live in America, which is supposed to be a democracy, and when I see books being banned, it reminds me of a world like that depicted in the movie and book Fahrenheit 451—a world where books are banned because how dare humans be allowed to think for themselves!”
Burrola explained how books get banned from school libraries. According to the American Library Association’s (ALA) web site, “A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. These challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. As such, they are a threat to freedom of speech and choice.”
She continued that the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Guideline, called The Student’s Right to Read, states that young people have an inalienable right to read books that offer diverse perspectives on their cultures and communities. Attempts at censorship deprive students of this right.
This book specifically states: “Censorship leaves students with an inadequate and distorted picture of the ideals, values, and problems of their culture. Writers may often represent their culture, or they may stand to the side and describe and evaluate that culture.”
Banned Books was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in schools, bookstores and libraries. More than 11,300 books have been challenged in the past 34 years, including Looking for Alaska; Fifty Shades of Grey; I Am Jazz; Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out and many more.
