The administration and faculty at Hialeah Miami Lakes Senior High School have worked to improve school morale and implement programs within the last two years, and improve they have, as now students are rising up to the occasion and not only eagerly participating but also filling the gaps.
The high school’s newspaper was eliminated for the 2014-2015 school year much to the disappointment of a handful of students that had participated in the struggling newspaper in previous years. Among those students were Gabriella Torres, Jairo Rocha, Daniela Martinez, Alexandra Ochoa and Marvin Espinosa. Together they created a plan for what they hoped to accomplish and the merits of having a school newspaper, then called a meeting with the principal, Eric Acosta.
Acosta, known for his school spirit, found the group a sponsor within a day. The students were paired with yearbook teacher, Alejandro Diaz-Rubio, and the newly named Gilded Trojan was born.
“We went through a bunch of different names,” said Torres, editor-in-chief of the revived newspaper. “It felt like we were bringing it up from the ashes in a way so we wanted a name to reflect a sort of royal rebirth.”
Torres leads her small but devoted team with Rocha, Opinion editor; Martinez, copy editor; Ochoa, Media editor; and Espinosa, Sports editor. Despite being their senior year, the group isn’t too concerned with leaving behind the project they worked hard to revive. They consider this the beginning.
“We are already looking to groom some underclassmen who show promise,” said Torres.
“We see this more as leaving behind a legacy,” said Martinez. “Yes, it’s sad that we won’t really see what it will become since we will be leaving to college next year but this is something we need as a creative unifier for the school.”
The group, highly astute in their observations, have noted a divide where the students in programs such as the iPrep Academy are given the spotlight and those students that may not be in a program but are talented in creative outlets but have had no outlet until recently, such as the arts, are overlooked. They hope to include the accomplishments of all students in the Gilded Trojan, as well as give opportunity for submissions.
In the short time since they have found a sponsor and began working on pages, news has spread by word of mouth and HML students are eager to see the final product.The first newspaper of the year will be live before the end of October on a website whose url is to be announced.
The group cites this as a true labor of love, considering that each of them are involved in the school’s rigorous iPrep Academy, of which they are the first graduating class, and are under strict deadlines for their senior year. In addition to pursuing the newspaper as a creative unifier for the school, the new staff thought it about time that the changes and improvements over the last few years at the school be celebrated.
“HML has a bad reputation for having struggled years ago,” said Torres. “But this school has become well-rounded and the students, programs and staff don’t get appreciated enough. This newspaper will show all the great things happening at HML. We have amazing students and people don’t know it.”
Sponsors and advertisers interested in working with the newspaper can email hmlgildedtrojan@gmail.com. The newspaper is on social media platforms Twitter and Instagram as @GildedTrojan. Follow them online for upcoming news about the first edition of the freshly minted Gilded Trojan.