Teachers Michelle Elie, Jeremy Stelzner and Maria Eugenia Tanos were starting to co-teach a class in the media center at Silver Spring’s Montgomery Blair High School on Monday when Principal Renay Johnson walked in with an entourage carrying balloons, flowers and a $5,000 check.
Johnson announced to those gathered that the teachers, who advise the school’s online, print and Spanish-language publications, were the recipients of a surprise recognition from the National Education Association (NEA) and the National PTA on Monday in honor of Teacher Appreciation Week.
“I’m so proud of my teachers,” Johnson said to the crowd of students after the surprise announcement.
NEA is the nation’s largest professional employee organization and represents more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, administrators, retirees, health care workers and public employees. The National PTA is a nonprofit organization that advocates for students, parents and teachers for the educational success of children and the promotion of family engagement in schools.
Elie is the adviser to the Silver Spring school’s online publication, Silver Chips Online; Jeremy Stelzner has advised the staff of the Silver Chips print publication since 2012; and Maria Eugenia Tanos is the faculty adviser for La Esquina Latina, the Spanish section of Silver Chips. The teachers received one $5,000 check that could be used to pay for membership fees to publications, equipment such as computers and cameras and other classroom supplies.
“What an incredible privilege to collaborate with these two over the past couple of years,” Stelzner said referring to Elie and Tanos. “The work that they’ve done has been so wonderful in developing the program, and what a privilege it has also been to work with all these students, unbelievably committed, young journalists.”
Among those present for the surprise were Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, NEA President Becky Pringle, National PTA President Yvonne Johnson, Montgomery County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Monique Felder and Maryland State Education Association President Cheryl Bost. The Montgomery County Education Association was represented by President Jennifer Martin, Vice President Nikki Woodward and President-elect David Stein, who teaches at Blair.
After the teachers received their $5,000 check, Miller spoke to the crowd of staff and students in the media center, thanking the three educators for their work in “teaching [the] students the importance of journalism.”
“People don’t become teachers and educators because of the fame, the fortune or the great amount of money they make,” Miller told students at the celebration. “The reason why these educators are here is because they’re invested in something so much bigger and that is every one of you, and your dreams, and to build your dreams so you can accomplish that.”
She also praised the student-led publication’s Spanish section, La Esquina Latina (which translates to “the Latin Corner”).
“I came to this country as an immigrant when I was 7 years old and there is nothing more than when you come here as an immigrant, you want to assimilate into the new world, you want to be part of the whole student body and it’s things like this, that make you feel like you belong,” Miller said.
Tanos, who has been the advisor of La Esquina Latina since 2018, told MoCo360 that since she began advising, the Spanish-language section of the newspaper “has grown so much.” Recently La Esquina Latina has been trying to be more inclusive and connect with students who are newcomers to the country, she said.
“When Latinos have a voice, we have a presence, and we need to make that voice heard,” Tanos said, noting that the Spanish newspaper program is like a “bridge” for the school’s Spanish-speaking students. “It opens so many doors for our Latino students in the school and it also gives them a voice. A lot of times underrepresented groups [don’t] always have this sort of voice and this possibility to have their voice heard.
“My students have the most amazing stories. They are so powerful and I want everybody to hear them,” Tanos said.
Rabira Dosho, a Blair junior and staff writer for Silver Chips, said he and other students have formed a deep connection with their advisers and view them as trusted adults with whom they can talk about topics beyond journalism and school. He added that the teachers deserved recognition for their deep passion and care for student journalism.
Dosho also described Stelzner as having “infinite energy” and said he is “always walking around the classroom and checking up on” students as they work.
“His passion is just unmatched, sometimes he is more passionate about a story than I am,” Dosho said. “And he’s always constantly pushing us to look into something or go talk to someone. And a lot of these things, especially coming out of COVID, I don’t think I would have ever done.”
Dosho said that getting involved in journalism has helped him open up and talk with people he hadn’t met previously and led him to write his first article about the impact of the pandemic on sneaker culture and Black youth.
Sudhish Swain, a senior at Blair and sports editor, writer and videographer for Silver Chips Online, said that what makes his adviser Elie special is that she is charismatic, approachable and has a deep commitment to “fostering a sense of community” in the classroom.
“It kind of feels more like a family than the normal classroom,” Swain said. “She’s just very good at making that sense of community well known and we all feel that every day in class.”
Swain, who will be heading to Harvard University in the fall, said that he plans to continue to pursue sports journalism and videography and writing for the university’s student newspaper.
Silver Chips is the independent, student-led newspaper of Montgomery Blair High School that has received awards from the Maryland-D.C. Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. According to Stelzner, this school year about 86 students make up the Silver Chips and La Esquina Latina programs at Montgomery Blair High.
Miller told MoCo360 that “young people’s voices are so critical because they are the future of our nation and the world.” She added that the administration of Gov. Wes Moore (D) wants Maryland’s public school system to “be as robust as possible” so students have the resources they need to pursue their dream in careers of journalism.
“So, whatever that means for each of them is we’re here for them,” Miller said.
