Rafael Sands ’14

Phillip Fisher, the founder of Tech, strongly believed in having a journalism class at Tech. In an early edition of Scribe News, he explained that “a newspaper is the greatest medium available by which a person may keep in constant contact with the world.” Indeed, Scribe News has been a significant part of Tech’s history, and it’s one of the main tools we’ve used to look back for the Centennial.

Putting together The Scribe’s Centennial Edition, which was released this past June, was an insightful experience for all of our staff. We perused through piles and piles of old newspapers and yearbooks, and it became clear to us that Tech has changed a lot over the years. We don’t have the shop classes we used to have or the same social makeup of our predecessors, and the neighborhood around Tech has changed dramatically since our inception. But, since the beginning, Tech has always been an Oakland landmark, the centerpiece of K-12 public education in the city.

As the 2013-14 Editor-in-Chief of Scribe News, it was such a joy and honor to be a part of this Centennial celebration. I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished this year with Scribe News, and I cannot wait to see what lies in the years ahead for Tech (perhaps the sesquicentennial in 2064?).
If you’d like to see The Scribe’s Centennial Edition for yourself, visit www.oaklandtechscribe.com.