The Riverside Press-Enterprise
TEACHER RECEIVES STATEWIDE HONOR
Vanessa Aranda one of nine recognized with CTA Human Rights Award
Students say Vanessa Aranda gives them a voice and helps them make a difference.
The California Teachers Association says her work promotes peace, justice and international understanding.
The Redlands teacher says she is part of a team and there still is work to be done.
This spring, Aranda, who teaches journalism, history and more at Orangewood, Redlands East Valley and Citrus Valley high schools, was one of nine educators across the state honored with a Human Rights Award by the 310,000-member organization.
“Students are challenged to look at their communities through a peace and justice lens, creating relevant content that impacts their communities,” CTA officials said in a news release. “She has also created a curriculum that combines literacy with social justice issues and is one of the main contributors to her district’s new ethnic studies course.”
Receiving the award was humbling, Aranda said.
“At the awards ceremony (in March), I was honored to have both my parents and my older sister present — they were my first teachers about justice and human rights through their experience and example — so it meant a lot to me,” she said in a statement. “It was also very reflective — flashbacks and visuals of many people and experiences in my learning journey became very prominent and I felt a lot of gratitude for them.”
Encouraging students to develop their voice and positively impact their community has been the theme tying together her social justice and equity work across different schools and districts, she said.
Current student Mauricio Pliego said in Aranda’s journalism class at REV he feels his voice and opinions always matter.
“She has shown me the importance of having a voice and using (it) to spread kindness and respect among others,” he said in a statement. “Along with journalism, we created a club called Wildcats for Change that helps spread those same ideas throughout the school and community as well.”
Former student Annie Delgado said Aranda changed the trajectory of her life, giving her the confidence to explore new ideas for her future career.
“Through her class I learned so much about the government and became really interested in politics,” Delgado said in a statement. “This led me to pursue politics when I got into college and I have lobbied for bills
in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento that directly affect my community.”
Madeline Chung, REV Class of 2016, took Aranda’s advanced placement government and economics class and journalism course. She called Aranda a mentor.
“Mrs. Aranda led courses where my peers and I got to adopt the two principles of learning with purpose and serving with love,” Chung said in a statement. “The skills I learned in her class became tools that I continue to use today, and I am so thankful for all the ways that she helped my peers and I foster a stronger sense of responsibility to others.”
Through the digital multicampus journalism class, Aranda guides students to create a student-driven online social justice journal called “Ethic News” and a sister bilingual publication.
“I think a multihigh school publication emphasizes our commonalities and I hope it promotes unity,” Aranda said. “Even though we have different high schools, we’re all part of the same community that sees all the students as their kids and we’re all often impacted by the same events and trends.”
In an increasingly globalized society, the skills students develop in this class are not only transferrable, she said, but help “develop civicminded leaders in different fields.”
Her work is appreciated. “Her whole-hearted, tireless commitment to, and passion for, helping students learn, grow and succeed is truly remarkable,” Chung said. “No one is more deserving of this great honor than her.”