Gilroy
– When Mirra Shernock left to speak about bilingual high school
newspapers at a Columbia University conference earlier this month,
she expected to be received by a throng of interested teachers.
Instead, she got a more enlightening reception – few people showed
up.
Gilroy – When Mirra Shernock left to speak about bilingual high school newspapers at a Columbia University conference earlier this month, she expected to be received by a throng of interested teachers. Instead, she got a more enlightening reception – few people showed up.
The lack of attendees at her talk – part of an event put on by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association – signaled to Shernock that the bilingual newspaper she helps to produce at Gilroy High School is so forward-thinking that her peers have not even realized the value of publishing in multiple languages.
“I really believe that given the nature of the U.S. right now, the most important thing newspapers can do right now is move to be bilingual,” she said.
Rather than getting discouraged by the paucity of people looking to learn about publishing in multiple languages, Shernock was motivated to become an advocate for the idea.
The high school paper, The Free Press, expanded its Spanish section to two pages last year. It contains translations of articles originally written in English and articles in Spanish.
These contributions expand readership by more than 400 students, said Jacklyn Gonzalez, a student writer for the Spanish-language section.
The Spanish and English sections are not segregated, but work as a team, united in the goal of reaching out to readers and contributors, said junior Michael Leninger, an editor with the paper.
“Our school is a diverse place,” he said. The Spanish section “gives more students the opportunity to experience what a student newspaper is about.”
