After two decades with Durango School District 9-R, Barbara McLachlan has retired. She can leave knowing she has made a difference not only in the lives of her students, but also in her community.
She taught English, and no doubt well. She is best known, however, for her role as faculty advisor to El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. It is in that capacity as a journalism teacher that she had the greatest impact and did the most good.
What she understood is that, as she said in El Diablo, “It’s not my paper. ... It’s the students’ paper.” And with that, she both empowered her students and held them to a higher standard than that to which many of them may have been accustomed.
It showed – in El Diablo and in her students. The newspaper is a quality effort, both in its journalism and its production. The students consistently aim higher than their grade level and typically succeed. That can be seen in the “Students on Point” column published most months in the Herald. Also, El Diablo news editor Logan Graham was recently named top high-school columnist by Colorado Press Women.
Over the years, McLachlan’s students have learned and demonstrated how community journalism can both serve and create a community. There is more in that than high school usually offers – much more.
There will be a retirement party for McLachlan from 1 to 4 p.m. today at the Powerhouse Science Center (the former Discovery Museum) at 1333 Camino del Rio.
