The Miami High Times, the official newspaper of Miami Senior High, publishes five issues each year. According to The Stingaree Century, 100-Year History of Miami High School, Miami High began producing and publishing articles in the newspaper back in 1923.

The first paper was called Stingaree and only had two pages’ worth of news. There was not a lot of photos to look at, and most of the newspaper was filled with words. Some examples of the article titles of the first newspaper were “Over 1100 registered now,” “Honor Club should organize,” and “Debating Team should organize.”

Miami High Times Starting Years

In 1929, the same year the stock market crashed, the Miami High Times alongside with the MiaHi yearbook were closed due to financial problems and unable to publish. When finances got better, the Stingaree returned to print, but it was a scaled-down version.

In 1930, they were able to recover and later won first place in the Columbia University Scholastic journalism competition. After the victory, they changed the name of the newspaper from the Stingaree to the Miami High Times.

Different Topics in The Times

Some topics that interest Miami High readers have not changed over the years. Sports have been reported in the newspaper for a long time. But some topics beside sports have been featured regularly over the years in Times. In the “April 1943” issue, they wrote about how the MiaHi, the school yearbook, could be bought in May. Another topic in the same issue mentioned that our school band was entering a music contest in April. The “October 1964” issue mentions many different clubs that were in Miami High, including Key, Honoria, Tri Alpha, and D.C.T. In the 80s, the “April 1988” issue wrote about the ESOL classes in Miami High and ways they helped students learn English using different programs.

However, some topics do change due to the time period. Back in 1977, someone wrote about the repairs that were being made in the auditorium. Later in 1978, someone wrote about how Miami Senior High became a historical monument.

Back in the 70s and 80s

Ms. Hortensia Cardona, a Miami High Times journalist from the 70s, said that one of her friends back then wrote an article about the Peter Pan refugees coming to Miami High from Cuba.

Mr. Luis Hernandez, a Miami High Times faculty sponsor from the 80s, remembers that the administration and staff were very strict about the topics the school newspaper could write about. He says that the paper was expected to only report “safe” topics and not embarrass anyone.

However, he said that his students wrote about clubs and sports like other Miami High students, but they also investigated teen pregnancy, sexual health, drug use, cliques, and language issues.

Ms. Cardona said that many of the stories back in her time were extremely boring because most, if not all, stories were exclusively concentrated on Miami High.

Technology Arrives

she says difference about making the newspaper back then and now is that they had to do everything by hand, meaning that it was more difficult and took longer to create layouts and graphics. “There were no computers to help us out. We also had an individual student who was in charge of advertising because we had to get ads to pay for the newspaper. we had one photographer. All the photographers were in black and white of course,” she said.

she says difference about making the newspaper back then and now is that they had to do everything by hand, meaning that it was more difficult and took longer to create layouts and graphics. “There were no computers to help us out. We also had an individual student who was in charge of advertising because we had to get ads to pay for the newspaper. we had one photographer. All the photographers were in black and white of course,” she said.

During the 80s, Mr. Luis Hernandez said that they started to use computer tools. Mr. Fernando Rivero, a Miami High Times journalist from the 80s, says that producing and finishing an article for the newspaper was not difficult. “The process of completing articles depended on the subject’s complexity,” he said. Deadlines, however, were one of the hardest things he had to deal with. “Deadlines are a part of normal life, but when you first experience them, they can be a challenge,” he said.

On-line and In color

Moving into recent history, back in April 2011, the Miami High Times began printing its front, back, and 2 middle pages. The rest of the pages are in black and white. Finally, Times started publishing online during the 2015-2016 school year at miamihighnews.com.