S Meet the 14 amazing students who created this newspaper and read all about them inside … WORD OF THE AMBASSADORS THEOREGON STATEPRIDE UNIVERSITY and THE OREGONIAN JUNE.2011 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Two high school seniors fight back against bullying, page 22 Adair Village, population 930, is looking for a police chief, page 16 Street youth outside the library cause a stir, page 8 Check out the students’ videos, blog posts, photos and more at: blog.oregonlive.com/teen The Class of 2011: Meet this year’s workshop journalists… Page 2 | June 2011 | Introductions Welcome to the High School Journalism Institute workshop They could have spent their first proper week of Oregon State University is proud to host the High summer vacation catching up on sleep, hanging out School Journalism Institute for a fourth year. The with friends and checking out the latest movies. buzz that 14 teens bring to The Daily Barometer Instead, 14 Oregon high school journalists from newsroom electrifies the place. Their intense passion diverse backgrounds gathered June 18-25 at Oregon for learning and sharing their stories energized State University for a fun but grueling eight days at the adults. Student media staff have had a chance the High School Journalism Institute. to connect every day with professional working By the end of the week, the students reported, journalists and their prodigies. It reminds us how we wrote and photographed their way to a 32-page came to be here. newspaper and accompanying multimedia elements We do this work at OSU because diversity, that are posted on The Oregonian’s Teen blog (blog. integrity, respect and social responsibility are tenets oregonlive.com/teen). upon which our mission is founded. On Tuesday The institute is a collaborative effort between The night I sat on the floor of the Weatherford Hall Oregonian, Oregon State University, the (Medford) recreation room listening to the students reveal their Mail Tribune, the (McMinnville) News- innermost selves. I felt Register and the Oregon Newspapers honored to be trusted and Foundation to promote diversity in respected by this group of newsrooms of the future. challenged and intelligent This year’s group includes ethnic youth. They want “to be minorities, low-income students, somebody,” and because students who will be the first in OSU has a land grant their family to attend university mission to serve the people and students achieving through of Oregon, disabilities. All represent voices that I get to help make that are underrepresented in America’s happen. newsrooms. It is not just the teens, Of the 41,600 newsroom employees editors and photographers in 2010, only 12.79 percent were who inspire me. The editor journalists of color, according to the of OSU’s Daily Barometer, annual diversity study conducted by Brandon Southward, acted the American Society of News Editors. as a resident assistant for That’s at a time when 36.3 percent of the camp while putting our country is made up of Hispanics out a paper of his own on and people of color, according to census Tuesday night. Our students results. PHOTOS ON THE COVER, filled the newspaper CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER RIGHT: That means newsrooms are clearly offices, commandeering • Photo by Ben Brink lagging in reflecting the stories and • Photo by Sasheen Turner every computer in the concerns in our diverse communities. • Photo by Andre Yu place. Southward told Ultimately, society suffers when civil • Photo by Ana Martinez them not to worry about discourse fails to acknowledge a displacing his crew and complete and accurate account of our changed deadlines to give communities. priority to the camp. This program aims to change that at a moment The energy, enthusiasm and commitment of the in our society when it’s more important than ever 14 students at this year’s camp to write and rewrite to include diverse voices, viewpoints and life their stories, to discuss what diversity means to them experiences around the table. Perhaps some day soon, and to play hard after deadline each evening has you’ll start regularly reading the bylines of this year’s been inspiring. I feel privileged for the opportunity to talented and inspiring institute participants. share this week with them. – Yuxing Zheng, institute co-director – Ann Robinson, institute co-director This institute would not occur without the generous support of: • The Oregonian, Publisher N. Christian Anderson III and Editor Peter Bhatia • Oregon Newspapers Foundation • Oregon State University, Precollege Programs • (McMinnville) News-Register • (Medford) Mail Tribune • Albany Democrat-Herald • Nikon • Pro Photo Supply, Portland We would also like to thank the following people who served as editors, designers, guides and speakers at the institute: Michael Arrieta-Walden, Shawn Barkdull, Wally Benson, Ben Brink, Faith Cathcart, Randy Cox, Lauren Dillard, Stephanie Dunn, Aaron Fentress, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Molly Hottle, Bill Loges, Kim Melton, Melissa Navas, Wade Nkrumah, Cathy Noah, Randy L. Rasmussen, Amy Martinez Starke, Kimberly Wilson and Stephanie Yao Long. Brittany Nguyen and Brandon Southward served as resident assistants. Thank you also to Oregon State University’s Student Media Department and Director Julia Sandidge for their support and commitment to the program. Donations in support of the High School Journalism Institute can be made to the OSU Foundation, 850 S.W. 35th St., Corvallis, OR 97333, 541-737-4218, or online at www.osufoundation.org. For information about supporting the institute contact Julia Sandidge, 541-737-3374. “Journalism is important because it brings to light issues that need to be read.” Anahi Ortiz Page 3 | June 2011 ABOVE | Zarela Brown, a Reynolds High School senior, learns to take better photographs through trial and error. Photo by Cassandra Reynolds LEFT | Yuliana Gomez Barrales, a junior at Sandy High School, and Sasheen Turner, a senior at Parkrose High School, interview waitress Karen Versteeg at Fire Station No. 5, the only cafe in Adair Village. Photo by Randy Rasmussen “Journalism is a way to disperse news and opinions from every perspective to the world.” Zarela Brown Page 4 | June 2011 | Commentary Boys and girls can be friends without ‘benefits’ By Cassandra Reynolds friends without physical attraction for each other. use the wonderful RAs of the High School Journalism Reynolds High School According to Dictionary.com, physical attraction Institute at OSU — Brittany Nguyen and Southward means sexual desire; a desire for sexual intimacy. himself. It was a cold, dark, starry night at OSU, and four I can honestly say I have never felt any desire to- Camper Andre Yu asked if Southward, a friend to innocent ladies sat under an itchy brown blanket on the ward my close guy friends whatsoever. Nguyen, had any physical attraction toward Nguyen. turf outside Weatherford Hall. It would be like having an “Yes,” he replied. “Brittany is a very attractive young It may have been cold outside, but “attraction” toward one of my woman.” the conversation was beginning to get brothers, and that would be When he asked Nguyen if she had any physical at- heated as Resident Assistant Brandon incest. One of my best friends traction toward him, her response was, “No, I do not.” Southward made an astonishing state- is actually my brother; does As the night got longer, my opinion on whether ment: “Girls and guys cannot be friends that mean I have a physical people can be friends without having any sort of attrac- without any physical attraction.” attraction to him? tion toward each other got clearer. By a 4-to-1 ratio, it Wrong. It was silent for about five Well, according to South- seemed to be pretty obvious that not everyone had a seconds before we started on our rant. ward I do. But I do not. It physical attraction toward their opposite-sex friends. The other girls and I, through my own would be wrong, gross and There are friendships out that there that don’t have personal experience, all agreed that this incredibly disgusting. “benefits.” statement was false. But to prove my point that But Southward was sticking to his there does not always have to statement that boys and girls cannot be be a physical attraction, I will Rising cost of college clouds opportunity By Daphne Carlson isiana and Washington will raise the tuition of com- Do you want to live in a country where only a small Franklin High School munity and technical colleges. In Washington, it will portion of the population is able to earn a higher edu- increase by an average of 12 percent. In Oklahoma, cation and hold the top jobs? Well, we’re living in that I was 9 when I decided that I wanted to go to col- tuition to public colleges will be raised 5.9 percent. society right now, and it’s only going to get worse if it lege. My next-door neighbor, whom I considered one Here in Oregon, all of its seven public universi- continues to become harder for citizens to attend col- of my personal heroes, went off to study journalism ties have proposed tuition increases that average 7.5 lege due to financial reasons. Scholarships only go so and Spanish at the University of Oregon. From that percent. At Western Oregon University, the proposed far for most students. moment on I knew exactly what lay in my future: A increase is 5.1 percent, but at schools such as Portland If only people from the upper class are able to go college education. I wanted to be just like her, so I de- State University and the University of Oregon, pro- to college, the wealth divide is only going to grow cided that I would attend the University of Oregon.