About me
I'm a freshman in highschool and wile I have not been in manny journalism classes thus far, but I am passionate about the class and plan to continue my studies. I often do interviews for feature stories and newscasts as well as work closely in the newsroom during newscasts. I also have taken footage at live sporting events including picture and video at the league swim meet. I play multiple sports including swim, softball, and tennis. Other extra curricular activities include choir and video work for my broadcast class.
Honors and awards
Colorado Media Association: 2nd place play by play sports 2023
3rd place braking sports coverage 2023
Link to story above
Order on the Court
eading Senior Jaliyah Mora’s biography, it is clear, the love she has for sports. She plays softball, runs track and field, excels on the soccer field, and during the winter, it’s all about basketball. Mora is the team captain this year, “I joined this team to play the sport I love at a competitive level. Also to bring the sisterhood within women’s sports at Englewood.”
Mora says basketball has its ups and downs, but over her 14 years on the court, she has motivation to try her hardest, “My family I do it all for them.”
Senior Jaliyah Mora is aggressive on the court, but a kind helpful leader off the court.
She is also inspired every day by the other people on the team, “because If I put in the work, they will too, and it will only help us all as a team.”
Mora says being a student-athlete can be rough managing school and basketball. It causes some stress, but working out and training consistently gives her purpose, “I train by working on and off the court and staying on task in the classroom. I also make it a habit to take care of myself, meaning eating healthy and getting rest,”
As team captain, Mora knows she has a lot of people looking up to her. She needs to set the right example, “Having a learning mentality, grace and respect for others and being a leader.”
Mora doesn’t know if her talents will take her to the next level. She would love to play in college, “If I was given a chance I would take the offer in a heartbeat.”
Freshman Willow Levicki has been playing basketball for three years. She thinks Mora is a very good teammate, “She pushes all of us to do the best that we can and always picks us up if we make a mistake. She shows how much she works in both practice and in games.”
Levicki says Mora is a great role model, “Yes. She’s a very good senior leader. She shows us and knows what we need to do even if we make a mistake. She’s always there no matter what. For us,”
Mora has even shared some of her moves from the court, “We’ve learned the Euro stuff. She’s very, very good at that. She loves doing that in front of people,” Levicki said.
And what is that? “It’s like when you try to go up for a layup and instead of going up the normal side, you take a step to the side and then go up,” Levicki said.
Alicia Harper, the head coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team is in her second year at the helm. She believes in Mora, “Yes, she is a captain, one of the captains of our team. And she’s a defensive force for us and every year.”
Harper believes there is one major thing you need to be good at basketball, “Basketball players have to be confident first and foremost. The best basketball players have a very short memory, meaning even if they miss a couple of shots, they could go right back in and shoot a couple more.”
With Mora and other strong players, Harper said, the team has great potential this year, “We would like to as a team, make it to the first round of playoffs. I think we would also like to get ourselves to a record that we’re proud of after a really tough start of the season.”
link to story above
How Englewood Hopes to Avoid Teacher Turnover
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.”
Watch newscast above
Hello and welcome to pirateTV. I’m Bri Martinez
And I’m Molly Huglund, and I’m Daniella Tobias.
We have a lot to get to today, including a look at the biggest scam facing teens’ rights now and how to avoid it, how Englewood district is keeping teachers and staff, and how Englewood supports its new English language learners.
We begin with the alarming rise in the number of high school students who are victims of an online scam called, sextortion. This is the practice of extorting money after an explicit photo is sent online, most often, on Instagram. David Claveria tells us about the issue and has information on what to do if you find yourself a victim.
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There are continued safety concerns at high schools across Colorado and in response, some school districts are activating teachers and staff and training them to carry weapons. This move most recently happened in Colorado Springs Academy School District 20 where teachers are going through a training program that would allow them to carry guns on campuses. PirateTV wondered how teachers and students feel about this situation. Danny Tobias has our story.
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When living in a country that is constantly developing AI technology, it can be hard to keep up with what Artificial Intelligence can do exactly. From realistic photos and videos to being able to mimic someone’s voice, AI technology has vastly spread as both a tool and a weapon in one of the places it’s argued most; the education system, most notably, the classroom. We learn about what Englewood teachers and tech experts think about the technology.
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Englewood schools have seen a small uptick in students new to Colorado who came with their families from volatile countries. These students tell us how Englewood supports them in their lives and in their education.
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At the end of last school year, several of your favorite teachers left for other opportunities. There are many things contributing to teachers not wanting to stay in the school environment. However, Englewood Schools has a strategic plan to keep more educators in classrooms. Simone Avitia has our story.
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Many Englewood athletes are struggling with finding rides to games after learning of the shortage of bus drivers in Englewood and around the country.
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Seniors! If you’re interested in speaking or singing during the graduation ceremony the tryouts will be soon, April 24th. Please make sure you are planning an outline for your speech so that you are prepared for tryouts.
In sports, spring sports are well underway. Girls soccer, tennis, track, golf, and baseball have seen a few games moved due to the spring storms, but nicer weather should allow teams to get games played.
Finally, We want to remind you to get all the latest news, announcements, and sports action by visiting the pirateer dot com. Also please follow EHS media on Instagram at EHS underscore Pirate Underscore Media. Have a great week.
Summary
As a student journalist moving forward with my education while still in highschool, it is important that we know the ins and outs of how to handle certain topics while maintaining accuracy and pulling an audience in. Journalism is an important source for the people at highschool, in the state, the country, and so on, so the people providing the information have to focus on spreading accurate information and shoot down fake news. As well as giving the people around us power to spread their voices and the opportunity to be heard.
We have to make sure that everyone with good information can be heard and listened to. Journalists have to listen to the voices of people with less opportunities to speak and spread the word. One of the most important elements of Journalism is built on the perspectives of others who are left genorally unheard but I, as a journalist, am here to change that.
Ethics in Journalism is a core point when spreading news and this concept, much like news itself, should not be misrepresented. We have all been taught to realise the importance of good reports, quality information and ethical behaviour when handling heavy topics and viewing scenes of incidents.
Wile I am too young to enter collage now, I plan on continuing my studies of Journalism in Highschool to better prepare myself for a future career in journalism and to take classes like this once I make it to collage.