Ms. Nancy Zubiri retired at the end of the 2019-2020 school year and gave the Oarsman her thoughts on how Venice High has changed over the years.

How has Venice changed?

I started working at Venice in fall 1999. At the time, students were being bussed to Venice from overcrowded schools and there weren’t enough classrooms, so new teachers like me had to travel to different classrooms during the day. That was rough on teachers. We had about 3,200 students in those days. For the last few years we’ve only had about 2,000.

How have students changed during your teaching career at Venice? 

Venice has always had a great diversity of students, from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, and for the most part, everyone has gotten along. That’s the best aspect of Venice High, in my opinion.  Students haven’t really changed much during the last 20 years. Now they just have a mini-computer, AKA a phone, attached to their hand.

What’s the highlight of your journey at Venice? 

I have taken journalism students to the National High School Journalism Convention every year since 2003 and I believe that for most of those students, that was the highlight of their high school career. Some of them had never even been on a plane before.  We went to several West Coast cities, stayed in amazing hotels and learned a lot about journalism. And the best part was that I enjoyed it as much as they did.

I have taught Spanish, English as a Second Language, and most recently, English and AP English and of course, journalism during my time at Venice. Through it all, I have been the adviser of The Oarsman. Being the journalism adviser is the aspect of my job that I’m proudest of. Having students write for publication is hands down one of the most powerful teaching tools. Students learn so much through the process.