The Desert Sun welcomes Jennifer Cortez as education reporter

Covering the three Coachella Valley school districts and local community colleges requires proficient reporting, and The Desert Sun has gained a new staff member with firsthand knowledge of the education system: La Quinta resident and former DSUSD educator, Jennifer Cortez

Cortez's approach to education reporting is not only enriched from being a former teacher, but "actively listening and being open minded."

"The intention I want to have is to amplify the nuance of what happens in the classroom to explore and explain the forces that shape how and why students learn, and what it means to reflect on those experiences of our students, teachers and parents," she said. "I want to motivate our community to be invested in those educational systems, and help them figure out and navigate those educational systems. I'm always willing to listen to anyone who wants to talk to me and share their stories."

Cortez grew up in Indio and La Quinta. She attended La Quinta High School and College of the Desert before earning her bachelor's degree from the University of California Santa Barbara and master's degree from the University of California Berkeley. Most recently, she taught English and journalism at La Quinta High School and was recognized as the school's Teacher of the Year for 2017-2018.

While attending La Quinta High School, Cortez wrote for the school newspaper and was a freelancer for The Desert Sun during her senior year. While attending University of California Berkeley, she was a reporter for the online news outlet Mission Local, which is focused predominantly on the Mission District in San Francisco. The center of her coverage during those two years was on students experiencing homelessness.

"For me personally, teaching and journalism are similar. Those are my twin passions. As a teacher, you're told to focus on building relationships with your students. As a teacher, you're figuring out ways to share information with your students in a way that's accessible. I think the work of a journalist is very much the same thing," Cortez said.

She described the pandemic as an "extraordinarily intense time" for teachers and students when the classroom switched to remote learning.

"Teachers are my heroes, because during that time with no training, everyone jumps in to do what they can and meet the need for their students to build that community," Cortez said. "I try to hold on to the special moments where I was miraculously able to create a community online and learn something from one another and have these critical conversations during a time while we were physically distanced. Then we went into hybrid learning right after, and because of that community, we were able to build for a few months online and it was such an easy transition back into the classroom."

Cortez said she wanted to "take a step back" after the pandemic. When she saw the opening for the education reporter position, she thought of her background as a former teacher and the intimate knowledge of education in the Coachella Valley that she could bring to the position.

"I think that's really important and special, and it's not a position I'm taking for granted," Cortez said.

As a former teacher, Cortez said it's easy for local news outlets to center around main issues in education reporting, including some that could be perceived as controversial, but she sees smaller issues in the classroom as equally important.

"It's really just including many voices of the people we talk to, (like) our Spanish speaking families throughout the Coachella Valley, and amplifying the voices of students and teachers," Cortez said. "I know it can be difficult because most people don't have the experience of talking to reporters or being published, and I think that's an experience I want to help people understand and feel empowered to share those stories."

You can reach out to Jennifer at jennifer.cortez@desertsun.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The Desert Sun welcomes Jennifer Cortez as education reporter