O’Reilly High offered a wide range of school activities, some similar to those found in Mission High and took place around the same time (eg. Puerto Rican Night). Because of the different course offerings and vocational programs in O’Reilly High, they also offered a host of activities unique to this particular institution, such as Semana del Mercadeo (Marketing Week) or Semana de Comercio (Commerce Week). In addition to this, they often hosted talks to help the advancement and professional development of their students, such as College Day, International Day Against Bullying, Initiation Seminar of Student Living, among others. There were also specific days dedicated to staff members within the school community, such as the Week of the Social Worker, Librarian Week, and Week of the Teacher (Semana del Maestro). Other school holidays included Heritage Week (Semana de la Raza), Week for the Conservation of Natural Resources, and Puerto Rican Week (Semana de la Puertorriqueñidad).
Professional Development Activities
Some of the activities offered by O’Reilly High fostered professional and educational development beyond high school. This was a distinctive characteristic of the public school community, unseen in private school contexts. While the private school system did encourage students to excel academically, specifically in the annual standardized college entrance exams, or College Boards, held island wide, they did not have specific days in which students could hear from in individuals from different schools, although a guest speaker from the Mission Universities was always welcomed. During college day students would hear from representatives from different universities around the island which would encourage public school students to think about applying to their institutions. Also a part of this academic display were the options of navy and army, as can be suggested by the black sticker in the bulletin board that displays the website
goarmy.com (Figure 44). The fact that students in this particular learning environment were advertised the opportunity to enlist suggests some of the distinct social circumstances that make-up each community. In other words, while those that attend Mission are being told that they may continue on to higher education institutions, such as Mission’s very own private university, the youth in public school institutions are given the fuller picture – local universities, training institutions, or the army. The idea of enlisting is seen as a practical option for many who do not feel like they can afford to go
on to university, the benefits are clear: a steady source of income, health insurance, financial aid for education, and other.
Figure 44. Designated "College Day" at O'Reilly High Public School. The picture demonstrates promotional bulletin board.
Fundraising Activities
In O’Reilly High’s fundraising activities, more instances of creativity in language use were evident, some which even made reference to other global subcultures such as the Japanese anime fandom subculture. Like Mission High, 12th grade students in O’Reilly
were in charge of the creating event promotional pamphlets and flyers, in the collection and raising of funds, and in the managing of those funds. One of the interesting labelling practice evident in O’Reilly High but not in Mission High, was the adoption of an English class name: the Falcons. When I asked some students of this community why they had chosen to call themselves that name, they suggested that it had little to do with popular opinion, and ultimately designated by the members of the graduating class committee.
Figure 45. Advertisement for the school dance "Black and White Party.”
Another fundraising activity that took place during my residence was the beauty pageant ‘Mr. and Mrs. O’Reilly.’ Below I have included a flyer for this activity (Figure 46). It utilizes both Spanish abbreviations for miss (here uses ‘Srta.’) and English abbreviations for mister (here uses ‘Mr.’). The use of English Mr. in predominantly Standard Spanish text demonstrates how accepted several English abbreviations have become in Puerto Rican Spanish, to the extent that they are also found in formal educational contexts (meant to instruct in the ideological standard).
Figure 46. Advertisement for O'Reilly High's Beauty pageant.
Club Activities
O’Reilly High had several active student societies that further encouraged the academic socialization and participation of students. Some of these organizations were locally constructed and managed, such as the Consejo de Estudiantes (‘Student Council), or the Seminario de Vida Estudiantil (‘Student Life Seminar’); others, were part of larger U.S. high school organizations, such as marketing and entrepreneurial society D.E.C.A.
(‘Deta Epsilon Chi and Distributive Education Clubs of America’), or business and career development organization F.B.L.A. (‘Future Business Leaders of America-Phi Beta Lambda’). Through word of mouth these clubs were referred to following Standard Spanish syntax, for instance Club D.E.C.A rather than ‘D.E.C.A. club’. A list of other active organizations on campus can be seen below. Note that many of these are academic- specific, such as the Biomedical and Energy-Driven Systems society, and the Materials Science and Engineering Organization. The singing club on campus marketed themselves as ‘O’Reilly High Singers’, which represented a group of students who were enrolled in the music elective with Mr. Delgado and participated in concert activities across the island. The musical repertoire for these songs were primarily in Spanish, despite the English label they used to market themselves to the wider school community.
Ø Club de Biblioteca, L.E.O. (‘Library Society L.E.O.’)
Ø Asuntos Oficina de la Juventud (A.O.J., ‘Youth Affairs Office, A.O.J.’)
Ø C.I.M. (Ciencias e Ingeniería de Materiales) (Materials Science and Engineering)
Ø C.R.E.S.T. Física, (Center for Biomedical and Energy-Driven Systems and Applications (CREST) Society)
Ø Sociedad de Honor Estudiantil (National Honor Society) Ø O’Reilly High’s Singers.
Each one of these organizations had their own designated meeting dates and times. Usually clubs would meet during lunch hours, rather than after school. Business and Marketing societies were amongst the groups that met most frequently. Figure 47 and 48 demonstrate promotional strategies for the annual marketing fair. Figure 47 was created by students enrolled in the Marketing program. Figure 48 was created by the Marketing program director, was printed on glossy paper, and multiple copies were available to distribute to members of the school community and the parent community. In the promotional flyers created by students (Figure 47) targeted to other students from the school community, reference is paid to the lyircs of the song Milkshake by Kelis (2003) and is written in the English language. The smaller information leaflet created by the teacher was written in Spanish.