Colton, CA—On February 22, 2024, the Pepper Bough Newspaper made history, creating their first partnership with another news team, The Inland Empire Community News (IECN).
The Pepper Bough editorial staff and Pepper Bough advisor Jeremiah Dollins signed a contract with the owner and publishers of the IECN Denise Berver and Manny Sandoval developing opportunities for both teams.
“This is huge for us,” said Dollins, who has been the advisor of the Pepper Bough for the past three years. “It’s important our students see the potential of local journalism, and this partnership will provide them with incredible opportunities.”
Berver and Sandoval have been the owners of the IECN for about a year now. When the former owner retired, she offered to sell the IECN to Berver and Sandoval for their skill sets and compatibility.
According to Berver, the reason the IECN wanted to partner with the Pepper Bough was because “We thought it would be a great opportunity for the students to expand their coverage area and also for us to include their coverage.”
Sandoval added, “The opportunity to amplify each other’s news coverage gives students the chance to have their work seen and heard on a larger scale, and also gives us the opportunity to cover stuff that we don’t necessarily have the bandwidth to cover.”
Currently the Pepper Bough is an online news website, but with this partnership the Pepper Bough can now expand its coverage into the pages of IECN’s physical newspaper, “The Colton Courier Weekly.” Stories will also be placed on IECN’s website.
This partnership also opens new journalistic doors for the Pepper Bough staff. If approved by IECN’s editorial team, Colton students can cover stories of local interest that do not necessarily fit the school website’s purview.
While this partnership is a benefit to Colton High’s publications department, it brings with it additional benefits for students, from work experience to access to local media outlets at San Bernardino Valley College and KVCR television.
With this partnership, the future is exciting for the Pepper Bough program and its staff. It can only continue to grow from here.
