For as long as Mustang pride has flowed throughout the halls of Yorba Linda High School, The Wrangler has served as the news source providing the who, what, where, when, why, and how of happenings around the world, the country, the community, and the school. The student-run newspaper of today, featuring daily articles from almost thirty photojournalists, has not always had its online design, plentiful staff, or mobile app, however.

Like YLHS itself, The Wrangler began ten years ago under advisor Mrs. Mazurier (Former Staff). With a staff of only eight students, the first issue of The Wrangler was published on October 29, 2009, an eight-page spread with articles about Red Ribbon Week, the school’s opening, debates about extending the school year, and more.

The founding students of The Wrangler include Luc “Wolf” Di Eugenio (Former Student), Grant Hirahira (Former Student), Taylor Leach (Former Student), Eryana Lopez (Former Student), Julie Ramos (Former Student), Devin Sale (Former Student), Emma Thommason (Former Student), and editor-in-chief Nicole Tyau (Former Student). Tyau became The Wrangler’s first editor-in-chief as only a freshman and served as its only four-year editor-in-chief. With the help of Mrs. Mazurier, Tyau helped establish the journalistic traditions of The Wrangler that continue today.

Beginning a brand-new school newspaper at a brand-new school is a daunting and intimidating task, but for Tyau, who “had always loved writing” and “was woefully bad at math”, newspaper was a natural decision. She recalls “many late nights designing pages, proofreading articles, and editing the final paper.” As the editor-in-chief, Tyau’s responsibility “fostered passion, and that passion me every day to work hard for The Wrangler, its staff, and the school we served.” When asked about her proudest accomplishment for The Wrangler, Tyau’s humble response was more than simply founding the successful newspaper that will be written and read for years to come–it was “the staff we had grown to…I’m so proud of the people who worked so hard and for long hours to make The Wrangler each and every day.”

Tyau feels “infinitely in debt to YLHS and The Wrangler.” Her small newspaper class, which would eventually flourish to a staff of 35 students in only four years, fostered a love for journalism which she ultimately pursued. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in journalism, Tyau has reported from all around the world, from Arizona to Texas to Washington to Mexico and even to Hungary. She reflects, “My life wouldn’t be anything like it is now if I hadn’t picked newspaper as an elective. For that, I will be forever grateful.”

The contributions of an editor-in-chief are incomplete without the support of an advisor. Mrs. Mazurier, the first advisor of the newspaper of YLHS, initially declined the position in order to focus on being the Speech and Debate coach. After eventually accepting, however, she “ended up enjoying newspaper more than I ever thought I would.” Newspaper began as “a third period class on one computer in a portable” with “the most random hodgepodge of personalities and writing abilities” who would eventually become a family. The class was moved to zero period after the first year in order to avoid conflicting schedules which would limit the staff even further.

According to Mrs. Mazurier, some of the greatest challenges The Wrangler faced was simply the amount of students in the class. She also recalls struggling with the cost of printing a newspaper before “each student learned about advertising.” Tyau agrees, stating that “Everything was a challenge… but like everyone who started and molded YLHS, we just kept going and learning and progressing.” She credits much of her and her classmates’ newsroom skills to Valencia High School.

Ten years later, Mrs. Mazurier remains immensely proud of her students for building “an awesome paper from almost nothing. That is huge!”

The current advisor of The Wrangler is Mrs. Shay (Staff), who is also the yearbook advisor and LA 1-H teacher, knew early that she “wanted to work with a great group of reporters.” Before she was even the advisor, Mrs. Shay was responsible for the name of the newspaper itself. She explains, “The Wrangler sounded like a way to wrangle in people to hear the news.”

After six printed issues of a 16-page paper, The Wrangler eventually transitioned from paper to the Internet in 2014. The change in medium “gave reporters an opportunity to publish more articles a year and to expand our coverage”, according to Mrs. Shay. With the help of the newspaper staff at Bernardo Yorba Middle School, whose newspaper was already online, Mrs. Shay and the students of The Wrangler “knew this was the direction we wanted to go.”

Although the grand feat of establishing the newspaper itself had been overcome, some challenges still faced by the writers of The Wrangler include “getting our community and students to read our newspaper.” Mrs. Shay remains optimistic, however, and in the interest of publicity for the newspaper, The Wrangler has been active on social media and recently released its first issue of The Toilet Paper, a quick paper briefly mentioning the events on campus. Her next goals include getting her students “more recognition for what they do at a local and state level” through award programs and journalism conferences. Mrs. Shay and the editors of The Wrangler recently attended a journalism conference in New York which “helped inspire them and motivate them to keep making changes.”

Ten years ago, The Wrangler was established by eight hardworking students. Ten years later, The Wrangler continues as the news source of YLHS. Ten years in the future, Mrs. Shay hopes to “publish our magazine twice a year” and “see more students take on the challenges of newspaper.” Above all, she “would like our program to be a news outlet that the community respects and looks to for current information.”

The Wrangler today continues to publish articles daily about a myriad of topics ranging from school events to current events to opinion pieces about celebrity privacy. Its staff has almost thirty students and is advised under Mrs. Shay with the help of co-editors-in-chief Wayne Chan (12) and Brandon Russell (12). In addition to articles, The Wrangler also features podcasts, roundtable discussions, and polls. ylhsthewrangler.com has almost 2,000 published articles and is visited by hundreds of students and readers around the world every day.

Thank you for always reading and supporting The Wrangler, Mustangs!

Thank you to Mrs. Mazurier, Nicole Tyau, and Mrs. Shay for sharing their experiences and for their contributions to The Wrangler. Images of the first newspaper masthead and first issue were graciously provided by Mrs. Mazurier.