RamPage Online

The Staff of RamPage

Judith Pfeffer, Advisor

In her eleventh consecutive year as RamPage Advisor / Journalism Instructor is Judith Pfeffer of Victorville. She earned a Master of Arts in Journalism at the University of Missouri and has 20-plus years of professional experience in communications, including serving as City Editor of the Daily.

Composition

RamPage staff members have ranged in age from 13 to 63 and have included members of all major ethnic groups. Some are concurrently enrolled in high school, a few possess bachelor's degrees, and one even had a Master's Degree in Journalism. While most are residents of the four "core" Victor Valley communities of Adelanto, Apple Valley, Hesperia and Victorville, a few hail from as far away as Oak Hills, Lucerne Valley, Wrightwood, Barstow, Lake Arrowhead and San Bernardino.

Accomplishments

Above and beyond fulfilling their duties to the student newspaper, RamPage staffers have amassed a consistent record of achievement:

• Heather Whiteside and Belinda O'Shea have held part-time positions at the Victor Valley (Victorville, CA) Daily Press; Shawn Hobson was formerly Sports Editor of the Desert Dispatch in Barstow. Former RamPage Editor-in-Chief, Raul Gutierrez, was, until recently, Assistant Sports Editor with the Daily Press and remains with the paper in a non-newsroom management capacity; his mother, former Journalism student Carmen Gutierrez, is also a full-time newspaper employee. Former Daily Press Sportswriter Geoff Fisk, like Carmen Gutierrez, went from part-time to full-time after taking the initial VVC Journalism course. Community Editor Renee Lopez and Sportswriter Kris Reilly are full-time employees at the Daily Press and former Editors-in-Chief of the RamPage.

• Kitty Bissell, Matt Hanneman, Thomas Morris, Bill Zamboni and others are among the many RamPage staffers who have won regional student journalist competitions while enrolled in the VVC Journalism program.

• Several people affiliated with the RamPage, including Edgar Acosta, Shelli DeRobertis, Geoffrey Golliher, Matt Hanneman, Linda Kwan, Jim Long, Sheika Lugtu, Angelina Valenzuela and Joree Williams, have won awards in the Annual Writing Contest conducted at VVC each spring.

After finishing at VVC, RamPage staffers typically transfer to four-year schools and often enroll in well-regarded communications programs at California State University campuses including San Bernardino, Fullerton, Long Beach and Pomona.