Dr. Margaret Wright Was The Head of the Journalism Department At Coronado High School Was Interviewed By Dan Mader

Dan Mader:  “Dr. Margaret Wright is a journalism teacher at Coronado High School and was one of the founders of the Heroes in Training program.  Since its beginning, she has supplied student journalists to work in the program and helped coached their writing.  Dr. Wright, I’d like to present you with a picture on behalf of the Heroes in Training program.”

Dr. Wright: “Thank you.”

Dan Mader:  “A certificate, and your Heroes in Training card.”

Dr. Wright: “Thank you very much.”

Dan Mader: “Dr. Wright, the first question I’d like to ask you is as a teacher, since you really have a strong connection with the youth of America here in Coronado and overall, I’d like to know what do you think is important when it comes to heroes and what values should the youth of America be looking to?”

Dr. Wright: ”Well, when I think of a hero I think of a person that has had an experience perhaps that has changed his or her life and he uses that in a positive fashion.”

Dr. Wright: “For example, one of our, early experiences was with a young woman who had been a victim of an automobile accident and it created a tremendous emotional and physical and financial drain on her and her family. And, she became a hero to our students because she could relate her experiences as a teenager having gone through all these things to our students, our journalists, who then wrote their stories using that as background information.”

Dr. Wright: “I also think of a hero as one who lives his life in such a way that people want to emulate him or her.  For example, if I have to think of a hero in my own life it would probably be my dad because there wasn’t a single episode in our life or a single experience, it was my entire experience with him throughout my life with him.” 

Dr. Wright: “He died when I was quite young, but he was a hero to me.  He established values that he expected me to address and to be…to be part of. And, he lived that way and I think for, for us to deal with our students today, we must live the life that we’re expecting them to live.” 

Dr. Wright: “We want them to be around people that are people who have positive, or are positive role models...and I think that, in and of itself, becomes heroic.  It doesn’t have to be a person who has done something great like a John Wayne type thing, but someone who like a single mom, who works every day and finds it very difficult to meet some of the demands on her, but she still raises her children well.  These kinds of things, I think, have to be the experiences and the examples that students will live by.”

Dan Mader:  “Okay, how valuable do you think the Heroes in Training program is in guiding students and showing them where to find those responsible heroes that they should emulate?”

Dr. Wright: “Well, I think that if writing an assignment or an experience of any kind is going to be valuable to the person that’s doing it, he or she must, relate to it in a positive fashion.” 

Dr. Wright: “This Heroes program has given us examples, not just the one I referred to previously, but others, and opportunities for the students to use those as role models, become part of their writing. And if you can feel some of what that person is,  that hero is trying to get across, you can write better.  You can, you can express it better…if you can adopt some of those ideas to your own thinking.”

Dan Mader: “Okay, thank you very much, Dr. Margaret Wright.”

Dr. Margaret Wright: “You’re very welcome.”