Teacher Feature June 2025: Pilar Álamo
Pilar Álamo brings an eclectic and interdisciplinary approach to media literacy and education. A former performance and dance artist turned Social Studies teacher, she’s been weaving radio and media literacy into classrooms and community projects since 1997. Her passion and advocacy for youth voices began with co-founding Kids Discover Radio 88.7 FM, a low-power radio station in East Harlem, New York City, with her life partner, Puerto Rican documentary filmmaker Pedro Ángel Rivera. That work led her to create sjspr.radio School House Media at Saint John’s School in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she served as Radio and Creative Media Coordinator from 2019-2024. Today, she’s developing Raíces y Voces Mediaworks, an interdisciplinary media initiative rooted in community.
Discover Pilar’s favorite tools, pro tips, and reflections on building meaningful media experiences in the Q&A below.
How did you get involved with SRL? I recently joined the SRL community thanks to a personal invitation from Nico Fischer, SRL student producer of the On Our Minds podcast, for their special 2024 Elections Edition. Nico was seeking Puerto Rican high school students to report on youth perspectives. Two of our students at sjspr.radio, Adelaida Siaca-Ortiz and Miranda Jatib, jumped at the opportunity—and made history as the first Puerto Rican contributors to be published by On Our Minds! You can listen to that episode here.
Tell us more about Raíces y Voces Mediaworks:Raíces y Voces Mediaworks is a new media literacy collaborative venture launched in January of 2025 with the Puerto Rican Humanities Foundation, LEAD Collaborative, WIPR Public Broadcasting Station, and a broad array of educators and interdisciplinary artists in San Juan, PR.
This first cohort of Raíces y Voces is an expanded continuation of a podcast project Si los árboles pudieran hablar / If Trees could Talk that was produced with elementary Spanish teachers and their students at sjspr.radio where I worked as its Founder and Creative Media Coordinator.
The driving question behind this podcast for educators and students to answer is ¿Qué nos dirían?/What would they tell us? In the first 7 episodes students (grades 1-6) have shared poems, songs, interviews and even their grandmothers’ recipes! To sample an episode click here.
What’s a media-making tool or resource you can’t live without? Hands down, the Shure SM58 unidirectional mic that was purchased at a Radio Shack in New York City way back in 1997 when my life partner and I co-founded WKDR 88.7FM Kids Discover Radio – open your mind and your voice will follow. The most solid, consistent and indestructible piece of audio hardware I have ever owned and still use to this day!
What’s your advice for teachers and educators just getting started on StoryMaker? Start by weaving media literacy into your classroom through consistent active listening and viewing exercises. Choose media content that’s both age-appropriate and just challenging enough to push students to question assumptions and engage their curiosity. Then, follow up with group discussions or reflective writing prompts; this opens the door to deeper processing and richer conversations.
My second key piece of advice: prioritize collaboration. Collaborative productions create space for authentic expression and transformative storytelling. A project that remains close to my heart is one I co-produced with Ward Dales of The Identity Project. Under his mentorship, students from a now-retired Social Justice and Activism class anonymously co-wrote plays reflecting on how they internalized the National Coalition Building Institute’s motto: “Pain that is not transformed is transmitted.” The result was raw, powerful, and deeply human. For a riveting listening experience of teen voices, click here.
What’s a dream story you’d like to report on or a person you’d like to interview?
Lélia Deluiz Wanich Salgado, wife of the late internationally acclaimed photojournalist Sebastião Salgado. Together they founded Instituto Terra, a reforestation project in Brazil that has planted over 2.7 million trees. What drove them to relinquish the notoriety and success of their careers to begin this non-profit environmental project? I’d love to explore what inspired them to do so.
Currently listening to: In English: Young British multi-faceted musician, Jacob Collier. Love that he encourages his audiences to sing along with him to create a communal “audience choir” by guiding them to sing in unison or multi-layered harmonies. Have a listen to a Jacob Collier’s audience choir here. In Spanish: I like listening to what I call Puerto Rican “fusion” rap. Independent Puerto Rican rap artist, El Sixto, layers his own urban rap style with a more lyrical and acoustic musical background in his upcoming EP Amor en tiempos de austeridad / Love in Dire Times. His first EP, La Promesa/The Promise, is an ode to his grandmother who he states is the one who truly raised him. Check out El Sixto’s music here.
Real talk:
The future of Raíces y Voces is uncertain next school year. I hit the ground running after leaving sjspr.radio, determined to keep the torch of independent youth media alive. And with federal budget cuts slashing 50% of the Puerto Rican Humanities Foundation’s funding—and public media institutions like NPR and PBS feeling the pressure—it’s a stark reality we’re up against. Our small U.S. colonial island is not exempt from this reality. Community and independent media matter now more than ever. The word is out. Resist. Stay strong. Seguimos, Pilar.
You can reach out to Pilar directly to learn more about her work, tips for launching youth media projects, or building interdisciplinary storytelling experiences. Email her at: pilaralamo.radio@gmail.com