Insight Offered by Contest Winners

San Fernando Valley winners of a student essay contest say the way to ease racial tensions is to feature Latino heroes in the news more often and to give community members a better forum to voice their opinions.

“We need a better connection between the public and the media,” said Michael Suh of West Hills, who recently graduated from the Van Nuys Math/Science Magnet High School.

Suh is one of three San Fernando Valley students who won an American Honda/Mario J. Machado Scholarship of $1,000 each. Veteran broadcaster Machado started the scholarship three years ago.

The awards are given to 10 Los Angeles high school seniors each year. Other Valley winners are Josefina Lopez of Woodland Hills, a June graduate of El Camino Real High, and Joseph Salas of Panorama City, a graduate of Monroe High, in North Hills.

The students competed with essays answering the question:

“Can we all get along as a multicultural society? The media has not covered the basic issues of racial tension as extensively as it might. If you were a newspaper editor or a television or radio news producer, how would you cover the issue so that it might reduce the tension?”

Suh answered that there should be more public forums, more space devoted to opinions and a better effort to get the opinions of high school students. He plans to go to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the fall, where he will study business management and chemistry.

“They should emphasize Latino heroes more than Latino criminals,” said Lopez, who will attend Pitzer College in Claremont.

The scholarships, awarded Aug. 1 in a ceremony at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, are made through the Los Angeles Unified School District Senior High Division.