After 21 years of teaching journalism at Venice High School, Ms. Nancy Zubiri has decided to retire. In her place, new 10th grade English teacher Eli Davidow will take over as the journalism adviser starting in the 2020-2021 school year. Mr. Davidow was on his high school newspaper staff when he was in high school, and has worked in many jobs in the media industry, such as the Boston NPR affiliate WBUR.

“It’s really exciting to be here. I did journalism for two years in high school, and it’s a really great program to be a part of,” says Mr. Davidow. “I’m excited to just be a part of the program and work with kids to develop their voices as critical thinkers and what’s going on around them.”

Even though it is Mr. Davidow’s first year teaching at Venice, he has already helped the current staff out a lot, stopping by late nights as they worked on the newspaper.

“I’m super excited for Mr. Davidow to become the new journalism adviser,” says Editor-In-Chief Julia Escobar. “I’m excited to see how he’ll be able to expand the journalism program.”

Speaking of expanding the journalism program, Mr. Davidow plans to bring in new types of media to The Oarsman, aside from a traditional newspaper and videos that are currently produced.

“Podcasts are something that I really want to bring to The Oarsman,” Mr. Davidow explained. “Journalism exists in so many forms, and podcasts have become a very important source of reporting and news. Reading still matters, but there is an opportunity to tap into these facets of media.”

While it’s still uncertain if school will return for the 2020-2021 year due to Covid-19, Mr. Davidow still has plans in place in case classes can’t meet in person.

“With classes being distance learning, we need to find ways to be crafty working online, maximizing online tools like zoom,” says Mr. Davidow. “Physically not being in the same space, we need to collaborate online effectively to put out quality content.”

While it is unclear if school will resume on schedule due to Covid-19, whenever school does return, the journalism staff will have a new teacher to continue producing The Oarsman. Congratulations to Mr. Davidow on becoming the new journalism adviser, and thank you to Ms. Zubiri for your last 20 years of hard work.