After three of the finest advisers a paper could wish for,
1995 kind of marked the end of an era in more ways
than one. After having only three advisers in the last 63
years, English teacher Dave Rainey was asked to take over
adviser duties.
Rainey brought with him experience in working on small
community newspapers before he was a teacher; he also minored in
Journalism and received his Bachelor's in Creative Writing
while at Cal State Long Beach in the 1970s.
Since he has taken over, he has overseen the addition
of 15 new Windows computers as well as a totally new networking
system.
The paper has also won several local awards under his guidance:
In 1997, in only his second year at the helm, the paper came in first
place in the annual San Bernardino Country Sun "Best High School
Newspaper in the county" contest. As winners that year, the staff
was invited to intern with Sun staffers to produce a two
page spread in the Sun, entirely written and edited
by the students. In 1998 the Pepper Bough came in second place in
the contest, then returned to first place in 1999, when the staff
again got to work with the Sun staffers on a special page.
Rainey is proud that several of his past editors have gone on to distinguised colleges on full journalism scholarships as a direct result of their work on the Pepper Bough He continues to guide the staff
in producing papers on a monthly basis that both students
and the community can be proud of.