About Me
I am a Sophomore at Englewood High School and have taken one year of journalism but plan to do more. I have been attending Englewood schools since I started Preschool and love the community I have l grown up in. I have always loved writing and seeing the stories of our community, starting journalism has made a new pathway for me of becoming more involved with what is happening around me. Making art, doing crafts, and playing music has been some of my hobbies, they help me release who I am into a physical form.
Honors and Awards
Colorado Student Media Association: Second Place in Human Interest Feature for 'Teacher Retention'
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Teachers are struggling to continue their careers as educators all over the country. Teachers leaving their positions is one of the rising critical issues facing schools. School staff say many problems compound in a school setting including behaviors as a result of COVID-19, and the feeling of being underpaid are all underlying causes of teacher turnover. According to the federal government, one out of fifty teachers are leaving, and turnover is at the highest point in five years. The Colorado Education Association also says around 60% of teachers across Colorado are considering leaving the teacher profession. According to the Colorado Department of Education, the number of unfilled teacher positions increased by 178% from 2022 to 2023. As of March 2023, New McKinsey research shows that nearly a third of US K–12 educators are thinking of leaving their jobs.
Teacher retention commonly known as the ‘Teacher Turnover’ is when teachers are leaving their positions. This has severe consequences for the school’s financial health and the education of students. Many schools increased teachers’ pay or increased teacher resources so they can stay in their position. But budgets are very tight across the state.
Students feel a lack of consistency in learning when teachers come and go, “When the new teachers come, they don’t understand what we’re learning at that point,” Alexandra Fox, a sophomore at Englewood High School said. She believes different teaching methods can affect the amount or quality of education students can get in a classroom. Fox states the feeling of having a different teacher than before is like “a roller coaster.”
Matthew Bednorz has been teaching for 28 years, 20 of them at Englewood. He believes a lot of financial resources go to increasing pay for incoming teachers, “But us teachers who have been here for 20-25 years, I believe we deserve a little bit more,” Bednorz said.
Teacher Mark Fornnarino says now, more than ever in his career, “Teachers are asked to do more usually with less, which means they have to work harder and get less compensation.” He believes students benefit when teachers are funded at a higher level, “You are really not just helping out the teachers, but you are helping out the students most importantly, that’s why we all do this job and the community.”
The SuperIntendent of Englewood School District, Joanna Polzin, points to the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan that outlines the District and Board of Education Goals for Student Experience and Staff Experience. There are five goals under the heading of Staff Experience aimed at recruiting and keeping high-quality educators. Polzin believes the goals of the plan, including finding the best educators, providing value-added staff development, giving them opportunities to be advocates for their self-care and well-being, creating opportunities for meaningful teamwork, collaboration, and support and empowering and entrusting each staff member to build and lead schools with a culture of excellence and belonging, “Research has shown that the more professional development opportunities, as well as how much you appreciate your staff is one of the main reasons that they stay,” Polzin said.
Polzin said it is important to take care of new and experienced staff. New staff may be harder to find. She said she noticed a decline in the number of candidates for education positions. Polzin mentioned that at the most recent job fair she attended, “there were two hundred candidates where normally there’d be four or five hundred.”
Polzin said she wants “to reinforce the quality of the teacher.” Polzin believes the quality of the teachers they hire is one of the most important matters to the student’s education. “Just to reinforce that the quality of the teacher that we put in front of the student, it matters, it matters greatly. So we always do our best to hire and make sure we have the right people teaching our kids and supporting our kids with anything and everything they are going through in life to help them be the best that they can be as they grow into adults.”
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Finding a love for wrestling watching her little brother, sophomore Maile Manfre is in her fourth year of wrestling, beginning with Pirate Youth Sports and entering her second year at Englewood High School. Manfre is a hard-working female wrestler who has a lot of love for the sport and strong connections with her teammates.
Manfre’s appreciation for wrestling grows as the season progresses, “I really like to shoot double legs into a butcher or half.” Not only does Manfre have a great connection with the sport but also, “It’s a fun community.” Manfre finds the best way she can focus and calm herself down before a match, “Something that helps me calm down is to pick a point on the floor or wall and stare at it while focusing on my breathing.”
The manager of girls wrestling is Keaolani Manfre who is Maile’s sister. Manfre has seen her sister grow over her four years. Manfre’s sister describes her as persistent and someone who can always come through during rough matches, “She’s grown in her skill from the beginning of the season,” Keaolani said.
Manfre has flourished through the rough times on the mat and has learned new skills from these hardships. Keaolani loves to watch Manfre grow over the season, “I’ll be here for and watching her turn into an amazing wrestler the more experienced she gets.”
Trey Jackson, the girls wrestling coach has helped Manfre grow. Jackson has recently started coaching girls’ wrestling and is “happy that women’s wrestling has grown to a point where schools are acknowledging it with new programs. Wrestling is the fastest-growing women’s sport in the country, and I am very proud of that fact.”
Jackson knows Manfre’s growth this season is just the start for this athlete, “the most experienced girl on the team having grown up wrestling. When she is on she is difficult for anyone in the state to compete against.”
Ahead for Manfre, a trip to state if she qualifies. The team has regionals in the next two weeks.
Summary
Journalism is a non-baised way to help tell the honest stories of the world around us. One of the best and most important part of journalism is honesty. There is a lot to digest in the world and journalism helps inform readers. The media that helps inform multiple communities is a amazing resources to have.
Our job as learning journalist is to learn the correct aspects to be a honest and resourceful of creating a story. In this class throughout the year and progressing to the college class has been able to teach us the honest and correct facts to be able to be an authentic journalist. Another important skill us students learnt in journalism is to also analyze information and stories. Learning how to make sure a source is correct, bais, or more has been an important aspect in learning journalism.
Learning journalism as a teenager or just in general is an amazing skill to have. Learning how to trust the media is an important part of not receiving the wrong information. Being in this class has helped me become a better writer and has changed the way I look at the media.