On March 22, the Las Tigersas team from Newton North High School (NNHS) placed first in The Tenacity Challenge – an annual academic scholarship competition for Black and Latinx from urban and suburban high schools across Massachusetts. Each NNHS Las Tigersas team member – Margaret Urdaneta, Gabriella Urdaneta, Chiara Sardi Rogines, Sol Feiguin, Kate Urdaneta, and Natalie Ferrer – received a $1,000 scholarship for the team’s first-place finish.
The Tenacity Challenge competition – a program of the Boston Bridges Initiative – consists of four events centered around the themes of tenacity and leadership: Math Quiz Bowl Challenge, Literature Response Challenge, History Argument Challenge, and Tenacity Art Challenge. During an extended period of preparation, student teams build academic capacity, strengthen intellectual risk-taking, and develop enduring relationships with faculty and peers.
Because media plays a major role in U.S. politics and elections, and it has become the main source of political information for teenagers and young adults, participants were asked to present on the following question: Given its impact and the degree of unreliable or intentionally distorted information on social media, do you think that it should or should not be regulated?
Chiara Sardi Rogines, a senior at NNHS, has participated in The Tenacity Challenge since middle school. She appreciates how it celebrates Black and Latinx academic excellence in addition to the relationships she has built with the members on the team. “I love the feeling on the day of the challenge when you see everyone’s efforts including your own, because it feels like everything you did is paying off. Our team has become extremely close since we’ve been working together for the past two years,” she says. In preparation for the various parts of the Tenacity Challenge, Chiara found the History slideshow, Literature video, and Art mural the most time-consuming. Even though the projects were tedious at times, Chiara’s perspective on social media changed. The research the team conducted for the challenge focused on the historical roots of misinformation, and how it is amplified by social media. “I still use social media, but I’m a lot more aware of the different tricks that people play online, so it helps me stay safe.”
Sol Feiguin, a senior at NNHS, first signed up for The Tenacity Challenge when she was in her junior year, invited by Chiara, a close friend of hers. “I said yes because it sounded like a cool opportunity. Art has been a longtime hobby of mine, and Chiara knew that, and they needed somebody ‘artsy’ on the team to lead the art portion of the competition. I enjoyed the way we were tasked with interpreting socio-political challenges faced by Black/Latinx communities in the U.S through original art,” she says. Sol worked mainly in the art portion this year and last year. A challenge she faced was coming up with ideas that had ‘originality’ to them. Alongside her mural, Sol attached written rationales explaining the visuals that she had picked and how they convey the message of the art pieces. Although Sol’s perspective on social media aligned with her previous beliefs, she says she is able to reflect more deeply on the topic as a result of the team’s preparation. For Sol, social media played a large role in her life before and after the challenge. Her avid use of apps such as TikTok keeps her up with current events, such as receiving videos on Congressional meetings. “However, I sometimes receive headlines on TikTok that are iffy, and I always make sure to fact-check those. The Tenacity Challenge definitely reminded me of the importance of fact-checking and staying up to date on political events, especially in our current political climate.”
Kate Urdaneta, a senior at NNHS, signed up for The Tenacity Challenge as a sophomore after Chiara’s invitation and has participated every year since. She is grateful for the opportunity to be creative while also learning about important topics, as she was able to use these skills to successfully present with her teammates. “The highlight was definitely presenting our work and seeing how far we had come as a team. It was nice to see how all of our hard work and time spent paid off,” she says. After seeing the statistic on the consumption of misinformation, Kate’s interpretation of social media changed drastically. “I still use social media pretty frequently, but with more awareness of misinformation I come across. I am always sure to fact-check the things I see, especially before I send it to someone else.”
Natalia Ferrer, a junior at NNHS, participated in The Tenacity Challenge last year. She learned about the challenge through the Dover Legacy Scholars (DLS) program, which supports Black and Latinx students at NNHS, with Michele Leong as advisor. With Leong’s encouragement, Natalia and her friends joined the team so that their voices would be heard. Her favorite part about The Tenacity Challenge was learning about the perspectives of her other teammates. “Seeing all the artwork and presentations was eye-opening, as it introduced me to viewpoints that I hadn’t considered before,” she says. After the Challenge, Natalia uses more frequently the caution she had beforehand to research what looks like misinformation on her feed. “I still consume digital media regularly through TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. and so do most of the people around me. All of the news and information can affect people’s biases and, even though I think I’m pretty careful with social media, the different opinions and arguments in the media can still be overwhelming. Sometimes, I have to remind myself to stop and take a break.”
Meg Urdaneta, a sophomore at NNHS, joined the Tenacity Challenge as a freshman after her older sister, Kate, introduced her to the competition. When first participating, Meg was not sure what to expect, but after doing research and getting to know the team, she found that she appreciated the collaboration. Her favorite part of The Tenacity Challenge was the competition day. “After so many weeks of working, it was great to see everything come together. I really enjoyed seeing other people’s projects and the different ways each team interpreted the prompts,” she says. Meg was aware of the dangers of misinformation circulating on social media before the Challenge, but realized only after research how much it has affected her daily life. “[The Tenacity Challenge] had me realize that it was easy to spread misinformation without consequences. Social media still plays a large role in my life, but after the Tenacity Challenge, I am definitely more cautious when seeing something online. I learned to never take something at face value, but instead look a little deeper at where the information came from.”
An obstacle that the Las Tigersas team faced was finding a time when all team members were available. “Our team worked really well together, but it was hard to coordinate because we’re all such busy people.” Chiara says. These meetings could sometimes conflict with extracurricular activities or AP coursework. With time management and communication, the team overcame this challenge. “We were able to put together good presentations with what we had,” Natalia says. “Being able to work with a team made it possible to handle everything.” Meg says.