The Ranger

Top Story

Read all about what teens find important, interesting

Texting, sexting and stalking

You S.A. features stories from the Urban Journalism Workshop at San Antonio College, stories about teens, for teens and by teens. The two-week boot camp for high school students explores their world through education, culture, immigration and technology. Our junior journalists took classes at San Antonio College, lived in a dorm and built valuable networks with professionals in the media. Their stories took our students to driving schools, dating violence prevention specialists and immigrant enclaves of San Antonio while another student went to the dogs — literally — to learn about training animals for a dog show.

Top Story

Students of the 2010 Urban Journalism Workshop

UJW links 12 students to professional news world

Teamwork is key to success.

Students scurry around San Antonio to conduct interviews and prepare for the next big story. The pressure rises each day as deadline approaches. The Urban Journalism Workshop isn’t like other summer camps. It takes hard work and a dedication to get the job done and is more like a class or boot camp. Full story

Dogged dedication

Teen trains dogs for show, public service.

Six dogs bark furiously at unfamiliar guests visiting a small ranch in Schertz. It’s difficult to distinguish the words of 18-year-old Aubrie Dahle, but in the midst of this chaos, she is the conductor of a howling symphony. With a simple hand gesture and a voice command, the dogs perform feats that some humans can’t, yet there is no cracking of whips. Full story

School year ends two weeks early for the successful

Southside High School seniors Esteban Valdez and Nicole Mueller started their summer vacation two weeks early this year thanks to a program that allows schools to cut 10 days from the calendar as a reward. Full story

OMG i crasht

Texts and calls ring up big danger for teens on roadways.

His arm burned from the powerful airbag explosion as he reached for the flasher switch. Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” blasted from the radio and his car filled with smoke as he squirmed to escape. Before he stepped out of the car, he reached to the floorboard for the item that caused the accident — his cell phone. Full story

Violent relationships leave emotional scars

Report states that 1 in 5 teens in a committed relationship has been physically or sexually abused.

He pushed her head into the corner of a dresser, then he held her to the bed while he repeatedly slapped her. Eighteen-year-old Porchia was not the victim of a home invasion or a stranger. Her 17-year-old boyfriend attacked her. Full story

Future darkens for tanning teens in tanning salons

Health risks prompt new restrictions and taxes on Texas tanning salons.

Pearly white teeth shine behind 17-year-old Mariel Morales’ vibrant, glowing skin. It just doesn’t bother her when fellow students calls her “orange” or compare her to the cast of MTV’s reality show “Jersey Shore.” She likes her tan. Full story

Going on a binge with benefits

New research shows that parents share much of the blame when their children drink too heavily.

When O’Connor High School senior Andrea Guerrero, 17, attended an underage drinking party in a local hotel room in October 2009, she had grown used to the drinking scene. Guerrero joined teens and young adults between the ages of 15 and 21 with the intent to get drunk and get drunk fast. Full story

New tech toys make it easy for teenagers to misbehave

Mobile devices create chances for mistakes.

It’s happening more often. You’re sitting in class chatting with some friends when a hysterical girl comes in crying. Some guys laugh while the girls snub her or glare. Your phone vibrates in your pocket and, without thinking, you pull it out and see a familiar face. All the laughter and looks start to make sense: The picture on your cell phone is the hysterical girl. She is smiling — and naked. Full story

Overexposed:

Teen who sacrificed her privacy was stalked by MySpace ‘friends’

Krystal Rodriguez, 17, a senior at Clark High School, has experienced the dangerous effects of privacy mixed with social media. Out of boredom, Rodriguez and a friend logged into MySpace and met a couple of guys online. Rodriguez, then 14, posted her phone number on MySpace and added the two strangers as “friends,” thinking nothing would come of it. Full story

What happens when you can’t go back home?

Conflicts with parents and family can drive teens to emancipation or other places.

When a house is no longer a home, some teens turn to emancipation, a legal separation from parents that leads to independence. Others who have no means of independent support look for housing alternatives with family or friends. Full story

Principals of speech

Student publications depend on administrators’ opinions.

A parent controls their child’s television watching in the same way a principal sifts through the content available to students. Different parents raise different children, as they expose them to different ideas. The child’s enlightenment is dependent upon the parent’s final word. Full story

Top Story

Refugee Refuge

2 immigrants face challenges from disparate angles.

As Iraqi refugee Sama Hatita walked through the cafeteria line of John Marshall High School, she found more than food, she also found discrimination. Though she could barely understand what two girls behind her were saying, she knew their comments were directed at her. Hatita decided to end their insults. Full story

Photo of the Day

The newspaper of the 2010 Urban Journalism Workshop at San Antonio College
June 24, 2010 — Vol. 16, No. 1

Contributors

Dr. Fred and Charlene Blevens, Juan Garcia, Ben Gremillion and Cherie Benoit, Chet Hunt, D.A. James, Alicia Morse, Jennifer Rodriguez and Adrian Zamarron, Dr. Robert Zeigler, Paul Zoeller, Adobe, EZ's Brick Oven & Grille, Subway, Thai Dee, Association for Women Journalists, Poynter Institute, Friends of Journalism at San Antonio College, San Antonio Association of Black Journalists, San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists, San Antonio and SAC chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Top Story

A video report: The 2010 Urban Journalism Workhop

Top Story

Postcards Home

From 10:30 a.m. to noon on June 15, workshop students teamed with Dr. Edmund Lo and photo resources Jo Hilton, Julysa Sosa, Leonard Ziegler, Alison Wadley and Alicia Wagner-Calzada to roam the San Antonio College campus and the neighborhood around the college with their Canon cameras to shoot scenes to be used for postcards to friends and family. These are some of their images.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.