Mark de la Viña is an Arts, Entertainment and Style reporter for the San Jose Mercury News, where he has worked since 1996, as well as a former teacher at an English Academy in Madrid, Spain. He’s brought his energy and vision to 826 Valencia since 2003.
When Mark began at 826 Valencia his first challenge was to help establish the Everett Middle School newspaper, the SUN, in order to help students with their language arts skills. Having no template from which to work, he and his cohorts developed the curriculum and paper format, in the process helping students to sharpen their writing. He remembers teaching some guidelines for what makes a good newspaper story, how to research, and how to “cobble it all together into a newspaper article.”
“I think it was a revelation for some students to discover the power of language and to learn how capable they were of developing their voices,” he says. “Some of them had real ‘Eureka!’ moments.”
Mark’s philosophy is to help students discover their own strengths through practice and encouragement. “I think to work successfully with students it’s important to step into their world rather than impose your own.” In Mark’s world, everyone is a writer, from the professionals who volunteer their skills to the students working on their first stories.
Mark began his own writing career as a result of his passion for music, getting his first experience writing for the school paper at the University of Arizona. Among his most favorite memories of that time was writing the Aeorsmith review as a student. He has since worked at the Philadelphia Daily News and the Orange County Register before landing at the Mercury News. All told, Mark has been writing for major metropolitan dailies for 24 years; the passion, however, has always been there. “I sold my first story when I was 19,” he says.
As a tutor, Mark continues to share his love of the written word with students. “One thing I try to emphasize to the students is that they can channel their own passions into the stories that they’d find really cool. As a journalist, I do that all the time.” But instead of taking credit, Mark would rather share ideas and work toward a sustainable future for 826 Valencia journalism and interview projects, hoping to parlay current success into a lasting tradition. “We’ve been pretty lucky,” he says. “We’ve had a professional ghost hunter, an animator from Pixar, and for three years running we’ve brought in a San Francisco Giant. I hope that by establishing this sort of template for the paper, that other volunteers will be able to step in with relative ease and be able to do what the core group originally established. Things need to be institution- rather than personality-driven.”
With such a diverse group of writers and teachers working at 826 Valencia, Mark’s specific brand of journalistic expertise is an invaluable part of what we provide. And Mark is always more than happy to contribute. “I really believe that one part of writing that isn’t emphasized enough is the journalistic component, that part of writing that stresses accuracy, news-worthiness, and accessibility. Our job is to shed light on subjects worth exploring. It’s really important for students to understand those elements because that discipline is what separates a writer who spouts off the top of his head from the one who has thoughtfully presented a cool, informative piece.”
So, with all the success behind him, what does the future hold for May’s “Tutor of the Month”? “I hope to bring multimedia to 826, starting with a cool movie about the making of an issue of the SUN.” Don’t expect Mark to rest on his laurels.
