#wewatcheditfirst
Ms. Valdes has taught at Braddock for 5 years and is a Journalism and Communications degree from the University of Florida. She loves teaching and strives to provide the best education to her students. The Watchdog was created with her freshmen class that graduates in 2021, so this Volume is extra special for her. Happy Reading!
You get an award! You get an award! Ah, you too, don’t worry. These very words are on rewind like a broken record in our society. We have become a culture that rewards participation, rather than hard work. If you or any of your friends have received the stereotypical medal with the words printed on it, “PARTICIPATION”, you know the feeling. The feeling of defeat after giving it your all makes you feel horrible, but the piece of ribbon engraved with those dreadful letters causes you to feel even worse. While our culture believes that giving you a ribbon will brighten your spirit, it promotes a culture of not trying. With this complete disregard towards so many student’s fight to the top, it releases an unforeseen anger that can only be taken out on the small paper or ribbon that you receive for all your hard work. Not winning is already enough justification for your sadness, but the embarrassing moment of having to receive the ribbon is the cherry on top. You could say this sprung up with the new-school style of parenting where parents feel their children deserves acknowledge just for showing up. As our society continues to groom people to become increasingly sensitive, the question arises: is it fair to reward one individual’s hard work while neglecting everyone else’s?”
In attempts to make the system more equal, it has caused even more injustices. As a child you watched every cliché high school movie that set your expectations for high school very high, only for Braddock to let you down. The nice cafeteria in High School Musical that serves full course meals is nowhere to be seen in Braddock. The iconic outfits in Clueless that you will never get to wear because of Braddock’s uniform policy and the beautiful scene of Rory from Gilmore Girls delivering her valedictorian speech at graduation is something that your senior class will never experience for themselves. If you have noticed the absence of a valedictorian and salutatorian at graduation, it’s because Miami Dade County Public Schools did away with this time-honored tradition in the early 2000’s. Since then, they have replaced this tradition with a three-tiered academic recognition system. Dade-County Public Schools recognize Summa Cum Laude: the top 5%, Magna Cum Laude: the top 10%, and Cum Laude: the top 15%. Braddock’s Activities Director, Nelly Odio explains it simply. She said, “they have created a larger range of academic recognition of the graduate class as to not signal out the best two.” Even more ironically, is the fact that Dade County Public Schools are alone in this practice. Both private schools in Dade county and Broward County Public Schools continue to recognize their two best students as graduation speakers.
When we asked Senior Melissa Montero, one of our top 5% students, what she thought about the removal of said sacred practice, she responded with, “It’s tradition, but I understand why they changed the system.” While she accepts the new way, one of her classmates thought otherwise on the matter. Senior Natalie Hernandez, who also belongs to the top 5%, stated that the top two students “should be recognized and rewarded for all their hard work. I don’t agree with how the system is now.” Evidently, some students have opposing views regarding the disappearance of valedictorian and salutatorian. It can be said, we have lost the value of healthy competition in our society.
Just a few weeks ago, a perfect example of this occurred. Cheerleaders at Hanover Park High School in New Jersey held try-outs and cuts were made based on skill level. However, a disgruntled parent reached out to the school’s athletic director which resulted in a classic participation culture move. The director ruled that moving forward, anyone who tried out for the squad, would be allowed on the team. And the school board backed the decision saying, “In order to facilitate a more inclusive program, the alignment between the various cheerleading squads would be modified to allow all interested students to be able to participate. This decision was made in the best interest of all students and was made to be as inclusive as possible.” Typical.
Whatever happened to earning your spot? To earning your academic standing? What happened to good old “hard work pays off “and “not everyone is a winner”? As a society, we are prying those wonderful triumphant moments of success and achievement away from students by creating a participation culture. As harsh as this sounds, failure can propel motivation and encourage your ambitions for excellence. Society teaches students ”you get what you put in”. Unfortunately, this true and simple principle has been lost somewhere between fairness and inclusion. It’s undeniable that the message we’re sending to the young population is all you have to do is “try”.
Welcome to our third and final edition of the 2017-2018 school year. As our time here comes to an end, we start to reflect on the times we had and hope that our commemorative efforts help you to remember all of the good memories. We have put in countless hours of effort and hard work to bring back a newspaper program and would personally thank you for tuning in. Never forget, we watched it first.
Sincerely,
Emilee Caldera, Dyana Gonzalez and Kayla Padron
For years talk of gun control and gun violence has plagued our society. Most of us have just sat back and watched from the sidelines. The recent events at Marjory Stoneman Douglas seem to have ignited a call for change. Maybe it’s because such tragic events took place on a day that’s supposed to spread love, friendship, and joy. Maybe it’s because the gunman was a disturbed teenager that made several cries for help. Maybe it’s because the school that experienced such a horrific event was in a so-called “safe” neighborhood. Maybe it’s because it was a little too close to home for us to ignore. Too close to pretend that it can’t happen to us and that it’s “just another school shooting.”
The real question is…who cares? Who cares why this time it’s different? Who cares why it took a tragedy to bring change? Who cares that we’re just a bunch of “crisis actors?” Who cares that our own President can only “send his thoughts and prayers?” The real issue is that no student should have to look up from a textbook and face the inside of the barrel of an AR-15. It is officially time for change and we are proud to see the majority of our student body standing up for what they feel is right. Just watch us make this right. Watch us as we stand together and peacefully protest. Watch us show respect and solidarity. Watch us make them listen.
Two hundred years ago, our founding fathers granted us the right to bear arms, but they probably did not foresee the advancements in technology that would take place, and the leverage that right would give in terms of causing mass destruction. As semi-automatic weapons continue to be sold, society is continuously digging a bigger grave for the future victims of gun violence.
This generation has previously been deemed as lazy, entitled, and most importantly politically uninterested. Recently we have been proving to adults nationwide that they have incorrectly judged us. The continuous efforts made by students has opened the eyes of powerful political figures all over the states. Just yesterday, we had a respectable demonstration here at Braddock.
The nation’s caretakers have been avoiding the obvious gun control issue for so long, and the children who they chose to belittle and ignore are now stepping up to the plate and giving these issues the attention that they need. So, for those that say we aren’t wise enough to know about politics… in the famous words of Emma Gonzalez, “WE CALL BS.” Watch us change the face of politics.
Welcome back bulldogs, the team has been persistently putting in work to make sure that this issue is true to our student values. As our last edition was a great success, we are proud to be debuting another that shows our consistent ability to inform and align ourselves with the student body. We are excited to see the future of TWD, as you should be. We hope that you enjoy our second edition of the Watchdog, and don’t forget… we watched it first.
Yours Truly,
Kayla Padron and Emilee Caldera
By Amerie Morrison, Dyana Gonzalez, Emily Deolmo, and Yasmine Elbeblawy
Fasten your leashes bulldogs, it’s the dawn of the Breeding era. Uniforms and an increase in our graduation rates are top priorities on our new principal’s agenda.
We sat down with our Head Bulldog to get the low on his plans for Braddock and what it’s like to be a first-time high school principal. While some of our former W.R. Tigers may remember Breeding from their middle school days, the rest of Braddock is still curious about who he is and what vision he has in mind for the Bulldog Nation. His expectations for everyone here at Braddock are towering, they include the students doing “the best that they possibly can do and see the graduation rate increase above 90%.” When asked about his leadership style, Breeding says “to have an effective leadership you need to have an open mind, be able to listen, and maintain constant communication.” (Breeding 2020?)
True words from an extremely approachable individual. During our interview, Breeding was easy to talk to and made us feel at ease, which is no small feat, while sitting in his office at his board table. That’s the good news.
On a more serious note, Principal Breeding has zero tolerance on uniform violations and lack of school spirit. When asked about having spirit shirts included in our uniform policy, Breeding was all business. “I’m a firm believer in school spirit however because we are a uniform school, obviously I expect uniforms to be worn Monday through Thursday spirits, obviously on Friday. And I expect all of our students to wear spirit shirts because it’s that spirit in our school that really promotes what we are and who we are and our identity as bulldogs…”
We asked former W.R. Tiger and sophomore Carolyna Mesquida what her opinion was of Breeding’s uniform policy and she said, “He was a good principal but he didn’t play when it came to uniforms.”
Breeding believes we should be able to expand school spirit beyond Fridays. Our new leader wants to see more participation at events and would like the upperclassman to take charge of this initiative. Activities Director Mrs. Nelly Odio says she has already noticed a huge difference. “He will say no to nothing. Even in the pep rallies or when we were out there doing the wave and everything. He just gets involved because he wants all the kids to get involved and bring back a lot of the spirit that for many reasons had sort of gone down. He really wants to change that.” Odio also mentioned Breeding connects well with the students, especially since a lot of them had him as a principal in middle school.
So here’s our progress report on our new principal: C- for bringing a middle school uniform policy to our dawg pound and A+ for your refreshing open door policy and constant presence within our student body. We look forward to experiencing the reign of the Breeding Era.
BREEDING’S FAV’S
Dear Bulldogs,
First off, we want to thank you for reading the first edition of The Watchdog.
It’s been four years since Braddock has had a newspaper and we decided to make a comeback for you. Our top priority is to have our bulldogs informed on what’s going on in the dog pound, but more importantly to talk about the issues that matter to you. The Watchdog should be a place where our student body’s voice and personality come through. This is our first edition. It’s not perfect, but who is? We can’t wait to make it impeccable and we look forward to being your voice.
P.S. Make sure you read through the whole website, it’s a good one!
Yours Truly,
Watchdog Editors
The Watchdog 