DIVERSIFYING PINOLE HISTORY
By Jeff Rubin
Last summer, three Pinole
Valley High School (PVHS)
students with a shared
curiosity for history,
storytelling, and social
impact interviewed minority
business owners in Pinole
to chronicle their stories
in print, in photos, and in
videos.
This visual storytelling
community project
helped diversify the
Pinole Historical Society’s
historical archives.
Diversifying Pinole History
is a visual storytelling
project for high school
students in Pinole
interested in history, civic
engagement, journalism,
and diversity topics. The
three students were Devin
Dinh (now a freshman at Claremont McKenna College), Justin Trujillo, now a
senior, and Elizabeth Duarte, now a junior.
The students cultivated their creativity and communication skills. Small businesses got a spotlight on
their business within a cultural and historical context. It was a winwin for all involved
The Pinole Historical Society is committed to diversifying its historical archives, and invited these
students to engage in the documentation of narratives of Pinole’s longtime residents, specifically its
minority business owners.
The project kicked off June 19, 2021, on the lawn of the historic Fernandez Mansion, where owner
Melinda Mariotti welcomed the students, took them on a tour of her home, and opened up the
wellknown Southern Pacific Railroad caboose on her property for the students to explore.
The students received guidance, preparation, and production support from:
(L-R) Jeff Rubin (President of PHS), Justin Trujillo, Mitzi Perez-Caro (Mentor), Devin Dinh, Lizzy Duarte,
Dyana Wing So (Mentor & Program Coordinator), Norma Mar-tinez-Rubin (Mayor of Pinole).
• Dyana Wing So, a 2012 PVHS graduate and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.A.)
and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands (M.A). She is a creative strategist for Gold
Front, a category design studio in San Francisco.
• Mitzi PérezCaro, a UCBerkeley graduate and lead digital arts and web design teacher at Kennedy
High School in Richmond.
The program concluded July 31 with a presentation of the students’ work in the PVHS library. Their
interviews with Sequoia Real Estate, Sue’s Place, Valley Produce Market, and Buddy’s Barbershop are
archived on the Pinole Historical Society’s YouTube channel —
https://youtu.be/Z5L_FxBYjpY
Not only did their work enrich the Pinole Historical Society’s digital archives by highlighting new voices
which reflect our city’s cultural diversity, but it also brought our community closer together through the
journey of digital storytelling.
/Z5L_FxBYjpY
