What The Scoop means to me
Montserrat Bueno Prado
Prom 2015
It has been five years since I graduated from Pachas, and I´m still amazed at how many experiences in High School have defined my life since then, among them working at The Scoop. In 2014 I was its co-director; it was my first chance at leading a project that went outside the classroom and I didn´t take it lightly. It taught me responsibility, teamwork and it showed me what it takes to make something as collaborative as a newspaper. As a team, we worked day and night to make our issues possible, and we tried as hard as we could to make it diverse and relevant. It was a very educative experience that taught me a lot about leadership and journalism, but it also brought with it many wonderful opportunities; among them, one has since become one of my most cherished memories from school. We were working on our last issue, and we wanted to make it special, so we decided to write an article about Sister Margaret. At the time I didn´t personally know her, but we all knew Edward cared for her as a second mother, so as a kind gesture to him we decided to have an article about her. I went to her home in the convent and we had a beautiful and heartwarming conversation. She had a good sense of humor, a beautiful laugh and was very open and kind. She told me the story of how she became a nun and how she came to Colombia. She told me that when she was young, she was actually going to get married, but before she did, she heard the “calling”, and made the choice to change her plans and answer the call. She told me that when she told her loving boyfriend about her decision, he told her that if it was any man trying to win her heart, he would fight for her, but he couldn´t fight God, so with love he let her go. And so, she came to Colombia to be light and do whatever she could to make other´s lives better. She was an angel on Earth, and getting the rare chance of talking to her and being in the presence of such a kind God-loving soul was an honor. I think that without The Scoop I would have graduated without ever knowing her, and that would have been such a shame. I only talked to her that one time, but I cried when I learned of her passing, and I am forever grateful that this world was gifted with her life and service, and I am indebted to The Scoop for making that conversation possible. I still have that issue among my memorabilia of school and I will forever cherish it.
With my team we published a couple of issues. In them we left testimonies about wonderful people like Sister Margaret, we shared book reviews about stories that we loved, we made jokes and comics that each girl could relate too, we spoke about the injustice that hit our nation and we worked tirelessly to build something that could actually uplift the students´ voices and give them the confidence to speak up about things they cared about. Nowadays, I acknowledge that it was my time working at The Scoop that has given me the confidence to write and express what I believe in during my college years, and it was my time encouraging others to do the same that gave me the insight to be more empathic about others´ points of view. I think having Edward as our guide gave us the freedom and the encouragement to make it our own, and to make it relevant, fun and relatable. I´m so glad that each generation gets the chance to make The Scoop their own baby, and make it as unique and special as they can. After six years I still have all the issues we published and I love that the girls that wrote when they were little girls in middle school are now the ones leading it, and that they now get the chance to make it their own. Each new group adds something to it, and that is what makes it so special. It just keeps getting better and better.
The Scoop is not only an elective, a class or a school project, it is more than that, it is the chance to get a taste of what is awaiting all of us when we graduate and we get to the outside world, where we will make a difference by speaking up and letting the world hear our messages of hope, love, and power. It is a chance to learn that whatever we are passionate about, being politics, fashion, economy, art, philosophy or medicine, everything is worth writing about and sharing it with the world. Our voices are the best resource we have to make an impact and bring forth change. The Scoop is just the beginning.