Below is an article that appeared in the El Paso Times about The Burges Newspaper:

Burges journalists: Prestigious award bestowed
El Paso Times Editorial Board
Posted:   11/26/2012 12:00:00 AM MST

Congratulations to fellow journalists at Burges High School. Their newspaper, the Stampede, is the only high-school newspaper in Texas to win a 2012 Pacemaker Award for outstanding news coverage. Staffers were in competition with more than 50 other high schools across the nation.

Being part of a student newspaper in high school or college is a unique extra-curricular activity. It places editors and reporters directly into the adult world of their respective campuses. It combines creativity with objectivity along the narrow, demanding path that is accuracy.

The Burges student newspaper has won Pacemakers before. But members of this staff, in particular, made a wise decision to adjust the paper’s presentation after missing out on the honor in 2011. News coverage was expanded and the newspaper went with a new design. That not only took artistic creativity but it meant reporters had to capture and ride the Burges campus mind-set and put it into words.

There are many fine activities sponsored by the the University Interscholastic League, which oversees extra-curricular activities — music to athletics — in Texas public schools. Most involve after-school hours. They require special, and extra, focus. That means honing the willpower that results in a building block to a successful future and personal discipline.

Most school activities teach teamwork, and that includes parental involvement. Because news on a campus often occurs before or after school
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hours, it’s common for parents to drive reporters to an assignment.

But where high-school and college journalism stands out are the face-time opportunities — reporter to newsmaker — all along the chain of influential persons. Reporters meet and interact with important people.

The Burges staff has been on the scene for President Barack Obama’s visits to El Paso. And as Burges journalism teacher Patricia Monroe said, “we didn’t shy away” from the huge and complicated story of administrative corruption in the El Paso Independent School District.

Monroe points out that Stampede staffers have gained the trust of administrators. We see that as major credit points for Monroe, herself. Trust is an important element when covering news events. Trust means better access to newsmakers. Stampede staffers are known for not backing away from controversial topics and have been successful because of that trust.

The National Scholastic Press Association made this year’s Pacemaker announcement. Sponsors are the Newspaper Association of America Foundation and the National Student Press Association.

Prestigious!

And Burges High School Stampede staffers, under Monroe, achieved their award by combining creativity with objectivity along that narrow, demanding path that is accuracy.

Below is a picture of the four teams entered by Jeff/Silva in this weekends Young Scholars Bowl. Jeff/Silva took second and third place with a team from Irvin taking first. Congratulations to all the teams that participated this weekend.

The May 1st meeting of city council was not just to talk about city business, it was also to celebrate some local students’ hard work.

Council members awarded trophies and congratulated four Coronado students for their part in the El Paso Recycle Right Video Contest.

Alan Castro and Katie Garcia won first place in the contest, while Ivan Kihara and Fernando Aguirre won third place.

Each student and the school received a trophy. The winning commercial will be shown on the local cable network.

Journalism students and teachers from 5 high schools and several middle school traveled to Seattle, Washington from April 12-15 for a National Convention.

The Convention gave students an opportunity to take seminars and learn more about the field of journalism. Class topics ranged from yearbook, to newspaper, to broadcast, and even featured some advertising courses.

Besides the classes, students were also involved in competition. Below are a list of the local winners:

Elijah Natividad – Burges High School – Editorial Writing, Honorable Mention

Christian Molinar – Burges High School – Sports Writing, Honorable Mention

Joshua de Santos – Burges High School – Review Writing, Honorable Mention

Denise Grenier – Coronado High School – Advertising, Honorable Mention

Leslie Ross – Burges High School – YB Copy/Caption: Sports, Superior

Lupita Gonzalez – Burges High School – YB Layout: Theme, Excellent

Alex Camacho – Burges High School – YB Layout: Inside Pages, Excellent

Ileana Mendoza – Irvin High School – Broadcast News Story, Honorable Mention

Michael Padilla – Coronado High School – Broadcast Sports Story, Honorable Mention

Cindy Marshall – Coronado High School – Broadcast PSA/Commercial, Excellent

Connor Hjalmquist – Coronado High School – In-Camera Feature, Excellent

Trey Cardwell – Coronado High School – In-Camera Feature, Excellent

Moriah Garcia – Coronado High School – On-Air Reporter, Excellent

Priscilla Villarreal – Coronado High School – Broadcast Commentary, Honorable Mention

Along with the individual awards, many programs were honored as best of show. Those winners were:

Burges High School – Yearbook 3rd B.O.S. – Hoofbeats

Andress High School – Yearbook 10th B.O.S. – Talon

Coronado High School – Broadcast 6th B.O.S. – CTV

Burges High School – Newspaper 2nd B.O.S. – Stampede

Coronado High School – Broadcast 4th B.O.S. – Explorer

For more information, check out JEA’s website here: www.jea.org