From the Classroom

“From the Classroom” is a way for us to share some of the work done by students for course credit.

Pieces categorized in this section have undergone editorial review by a faculty member in addition to Annenberg Media’s independent student newsroom. Annenberg Media student editors reviewed these stories and published them per newsroom guidelines.

Side effects may include...

An underserved community’s struggle with COVID-19

Kira K Dixon
September 21

Weakened by the pandemic, Black-owned restaurants still give back to their community

Some restaurants in South Los Angeles have been providing meals to the elderly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Camila Thur de Koos
September 18

Campaigning couldn’t be more different amid a pandemic

Aides share how they have assimilated to this foreign political atmosphere.

Sarah Martin
September 17

We Aren’t Making the Grade

Most K-12 school sites in Los Angeles County will remain closed due to the pandemic, at least for the beginning of the fall semester. So students here, like in many other states, need to continue to adapt to online learning. But the lack of high-speed internet and access to computers makes education particularly difficult for one group: students without homes.

Annie Wei September 11

While America shelters at home, confinement endangers the incarcerated

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, flaws in the American corrections system threaten the country’s inmate population more than the virus itself.

Jill Burke September 11

Learning to teach in a pandemic

Instead of spending the latter half of his senior year of college celebrating with friends and family, 2020 Pepperdine University graduate Daniel Zarasua has spent the last few months helping his cousin Joseph, an 11-year-old with multiple learning disabilities, to pass the fifth grade. As an 11-year-old with several learning disabilities, Joseph is one of thousands of kids who receives special education services. According to the California Department of Education, 795,047 students in California received services during the 2018-19 school year. California provides these resources to meet the individual needs of students with disabilities.

Savannah Welch September 11

How COVID-19 is affecting Asian American owned restaurants

A room full of empty tables. A pile of plastic to-go containers. Almost complete silence if not for the muffled television. The xenophobic narrative surrounding COVID-19 has undeniably directly affected Asian American businesses.

Christine Kim September 10

Creation and COVID-19

Across the country, concert venues are empty, unobserved art sits in museums and artists are struggling to interact with the outside world. Like the rest of us, artists were shaken when so much of the world outside their doors stopped. Without events going on, they needed to find innovative solutions to create a new way to pay their bills. People have long said that desperation inspires artists. The question, when they and their audiences are sheltering at home, is what are they doing with so much inspiration and few channels to get their work out to the world?

Michelle Luczo September 9

The Digital Divide: We have limited bandwidth when it comes to helping struggling families

When the pandemic forced children from their desks and onto Zoom in March, Mercedes Milian was concerned for two of her children’s education. LA Unified, the second-largest school district in America, decided that their students would return to remote classrooms on Aug. 18, and Milian predicts there will be challenges for her family. She must rely on her mother, who is in her 60s, to supervise the children while Milian works.

Colin Taylor August 23

‘Rona, Race and Raising

Candita Hinds sat on her couch in her suburban Maryland apartment and watched in amusement as her son, Samar, attempted to reenact a comedy routine he recently discovered on TikTok. Though she flaunted a jovial spirit, the smile on her face belied her current hard-hitting reality. Hinds, a single Black mother, recently lost her job of helping others to cope with their mental health struggles. Now, the therapist says she finds herself working through her own anxieties as she tries to manage caring for a 10-year-old son during a period of financial uncertainty and racial unrest.

Johnny Dorcil August 18

What happened to our mariachis?

A group of men dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts lounge and play poker as their hands deal cards. The parked vans with their business numbers written on the windows replace the crowds that once gathered around them. The sound of passing cars can be heard driving down East 1st Street. But where have all the mariachis gone?

Frank Rojas August 13

A school district divided

With the new school year here, COVID-19 is presenting unique challenges to parents, teachers and students in San Diego’s southern region, which bear the highest number of COVID-19 cases in San Diego County. Now dogged by a virus that forced the implementation of remote learning, educators and parents in South San Diego face several issues under districts that are stretched thin and are divided as to whether or not the region’s students should return to in-person learning in the near future.

Antonio Pequeño IV August 13

Facing Racism

The rise of anti-Asian discrimination has been the reality for the Asian American population in the United States for the past few months, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anthony Quach August 12

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