JEA Diversity equity inclusion, Increase Latino Representation in Scholastic journalism, Photo of Jovita Idar, American Journalist, 1885-1946. "When you educate a woman, you educate a family."

by Adriana Chavira, MJE

While waiting in the lobby of the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, one of my students made an observation of the many teens and their advisers checking into their rooms for the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention in Los Angeles this past spring.

“There are many white people here,” one of my yearbook editors whispered to me. 

“Yes,” I nodded. 

This is a frequent observation my student journalists make when attending the national convention. Living in Los Angeles, my students see a diverse crowd among the attendees when we go to local journalism workshops. But at national events, they feel they stand out. And I know that feeling since I, a Chicana born and raised in Los Angeles, also often felt like I stood out when in a room of journalism advisers. 

Currently, Latinos make up 19% of the population in the United States, showing a growth of 23% since 2010. But that growth isn’t being seen in many areas where representation matters, such as in newsrooms nationwide. Across the country, 12% of journalists are Latino. Having diversity in newsrooms is important since that increases telling stories of the diverse communities across the country. 

And in order to cultivate more diverse newsrooms, we need to start introducing and preparing students for journalism before they reach college. 

That is why this summer when I was approached about serving on the board of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists as its academic at large officer, I jumped at the chance to run for office. While this seat is usually filled by college professors, having a high school teacher serve in this capacity can help lead the way to create a pipeline to get more Latino students interested in journalism at a younger age, inspire them to study journalism and communications in college and then ultimately get a career in a newsroom.

In 2016, JEA member Stan Zoller, MJE, and I attended the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Washington, D.C., with the specific task of observing its well established J-Shop, a four-day high school journalism workshop in the host city of its annual convention. Stan and I were impressed with the program and the students participating in it. 

In order to cultivate more diverse newsrooms, we need to start introducing and preparing students for journalism before they reach college.

While NAHJ has the Latino Reporter, a program for college students at its annual convention, I’d like to create a program for high school journalists, similar to J-Shop. With the NAHJ convention going to Miami in July 2023, I hope to reach out to area high schools and journalism advisers to recruit Latino students to attend a one-day workshop. The goal is to give them the journalism basics of news writing, photography, etc. and give them the tools to continue practicing journalism in their high schools.

Another NAHJ board member and I made initial contact with a few Florida journalism teachers to recruit Latino students who might be interested in attending this inaugural workshop. The program is still in the planning stages, but the goal is to start small in 2023 and eventually grow the high school program into more than just a one day event. If you are interested in being involved in this project, please email me at achavira@nahj.org. 

Finally, if you’re looking for ways to recognize and improve visibility during Hispanic Heritage Month, here are two quick ideas to raise awareness of Latinos in your school community:

Design social media posts highlighting journalists of color

Last year, students in my student publications classes highlighted Latino journalists in September and October, Filipino Heritage Month in October and Black journalists in February. 

Complete a listicle of authors that your school community might want to read

Some might even be great candidates for class sets that the English department might want to purchase and add to its curriculum. One of my current favorite young adult Latino authors is Elizabeth Acevedo, author of “The Poet X.” Your librarian can help you find some books to highlight if you can’t think of any. This is a listicle my students published in May for Women’s History Month. 

Adriana Chavira, MJE, teaches and advises at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (Van Nuys, California) and serves on the board for NAHJ as the Academic Officer at Large.

Lindsay Porter

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