Josue Reyes Diaz

Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102H

Rhetorical Analysis Draft

Dear reader,

My rhetorical analysis is of a source present in my annotated bibliography for my

research project. “How Florida Schools Adopted Puerto Rican Students After Hurricane”

is an article within the Hurricane Maria discourse that emphasizes the impact that Florida

has had to help those transitioning after the hurricane. The article directly ties into how

Florida education has adjusted for the influx of Puerto Rican immigrants which lies in the

niche of my personal research. While my research focuses on higher education, this article

remains relevant to it because it provides a framework that I can imitate. With that said, in

my writing my biggest area of uncertainty is in my layout of the information, particularly

in paragraph 3. I would appreciate critique and suggestions as to how I can make my work

flow in a smoother manner. Thank you for taking time to review my analysis!

Josue Reyes Diaz

Josue Reyes Diaz
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102H

Ever since Hurricane Maria devasted Puerto Rico’s landscape, citizens of the island have
sought refuge on the U.S. mainland. As research and data suggest, Florida is the state with the
largest amount of Puerto Rican refugees migrating to it. My research focuses on analyzing the
actions taken by the Florida education system to accommodate for this influx. Rather than
observing the entire population shift, my research focuses on students transferring to continue
their education outside of the island. The article “How Florida Schools Adopted Puerto Rican
Students After Hurricane” written by Stavros Agorakis, Mila Jasper, and Anna Laffrey touches
on this and elaborates on this topic by providing examples as evidence to show the effectiveness
of the education system. Agorakis, Jasper, and Laffrey are Northwestern University students
studying journalism, with a focus on how public policy affects people’s lives. Through this
article, the authors claim that Florida has been the state to best accommodate for Puerto Ricans
fleeing the island.
The article is posted in Sojourners, a website that “sits at the intersection of faith, politics,
and culture”, meaning they analyze topics ranging in any of the three categories. Despite being a
site with Christian history and ideology, there isn’t any signs of religious connotations in this
news article about Puerto Rico. With this context in mind, an obvious audience includes their
subscribers/followers whom are intrigued by the topics of politics and culture. For those not
personally impacted by the effects of the Hurricane, this topic leans more on the effects of the
Floridian culture and even has political connotation with the history of Hispanic voting habits.
However, the term ‘audience’ can be expanded to include the citizens of Puerto Rico who have
yet to move away from the island out of fear of the unknown. By showcasing the good work
being done in the state of Florida, the authors motivate Puerto Ricans still living on the island to
take that jump to the mainland, and they do so through the use of anecdotes and statistics that
emphasize the fact that those taking the leap aren’t alone and that there is a light on the other
side. Phrases such as “one of at least 13,000…” and “…restore a sense of normalcy…” drive
these points home and create a sense of comfort for those considering moving to Florida from the
island. Despite this, the publication and distribution of this article through this website is a
constraint as it limits the accessibility of the content to only those with internet access. With part
of their audience being Puerto Ricans on the island which, when this article was published didn’t
even have full power, that exigence took some time to bloom.
Many variations of Hurricane Maria news reports exist online and create the larger
discourse. Within this larger discourse there exist smaller parlors which focus on the effects of
the Hurricane on Puerto Rico and likewise the effects of the Hurricane on Florida and the rest of
the United States mainland. These then continue to branch onto different types of effects and the
discourse that has conversations of education in the state of Florida is where this article resides.
Of the sources I’ve encountered during my research, the ones in this discourse such as “Puerto
Rican college students head to Central Florida” written by Annie Martin of the Orlando
Sentinel, primarily focus on Florida as an isolated unit when talking about education whereas the
article I chose to analyze, “How Florida Schools Adopted Puerto Rican Students After
Hurricane”, narrows in on the comparison of Florida to other states in the U.S., highlighting
Florida in a different way. Something to note about the Hurricane Maria discourse is the Kairos
Josue Reyes Diaz
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102H

of most of the publications. Immediately after the Hurricane, most articles were news reports
aimed to inform about the disaster. From there on after, publications within the discourse occur
on anniversaries of Maria. This particular article surfaced around the 6-month anniversary of the
incident and took that opportunity in which many were looking for an update on the entire
situation in order to express their opinion while simultaneously informing on what has occurred
in the first half year since Hurricane Maria.
The authors acknowledge and praise the efforts of other states in terms of dealing with
Puerto Rican students but constantly emphasize the impact of Florida above all. They achieve
this through the inclusion of comparative statistics such as “Florida has taken in nearly 8,000
students since the hurricane. New York has enrolled nearly 2,200 students, and Connecticut has
the third largest number of Puerto Rican students at about 2,000. Florida has a larger proportion
of students living in Federal Emergency Management Agency-funded hotel rooms”. The
inclusion of Connecticut and New York provides some perspective on Florida’s numbers.
Additionally, the authors differentiate Florida above the other states in order to highlight it as an
example of what the other states could be doing to help Puerto Ricans. The usage of phrases such
as “Florida is the only state” and “despite the challenges…Florida schools worked hard...” is
evidence of this and serve as challenges to other states to exceeds Florida’s level of commitment
to helping these Puerto Ricans. This is extremely relevant to the intended take away of my
research, which is analyzing all available information in order to adjust preexisting
accommodations or possibly formulate new ones. This is an important goal for not only the
education discourse inside of the Hurricane Maria discourse, but the entire Florida education
discourse as a whole.
The usage of student anecdotes throughout the article also act as a reminder to all readers
that the consequences of Hurricane Maria aren’t just numbers and data but living humans with
emotions trying to thrive and survive. The main student referenced in this article, Adriana
Figueroa, states “we’re American citizens, too,” in which she shows her frustration on how
certain aspects of the Hurricane have been handled by the U.S. Government. Furthermore, the
authors invoke another layer to this by formatting the article in a way that follows Adrianna’s
transition from start to present. The beginning on the article focuses on the first steps Adrianna
and her family took in order to make her transition happen, followed by the emotional and
cultural struggles she underwent. The article then closes off on how she has adapted and what
her plans are for the future. This story telling throughout the piece creates a connection between
Adrianna and the reader, giving the reader a reason to become invested in the exigence of the
article.
Moreover, the authors are aware that not every migration story is as successful as the one
they chose to highlight, but they don’t attempt to hide that knowledge from the audience.
“Despite all of the support, however, some Puerto Rican students said they still had a hard time
adjusting to their new schools and new lives”. In fact, they themselves show the audience that
not every transition from Puerto Rico is smooth-less at first, and they do so with the inclusion of
Carlos Velazquez’s story. Carlos had a difficult time with the language barrier and making
Josue Reyes Diaz
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1102H

friends in his first Florida high school but has obtained a better learning experience in his second.
With this they dictate that although some may struggle at first, there is always a positive to be
obtained from every situation. Despite this, the fact that their article only includes two anecdotes
to create some contrast acts as a constraint because the inclusion of more examples would
provide a clearer picture than the one they are able to paint with simply two sources. The authors
attempted to have variety by having one male and one female interviewee but again, with such a
limited pool of people interviewed, there is that constraint present. Realizing weak points to their
argument gives Agorakis, Jasper, and Laffrey more credibility and indicates that they are aware
of multiple perspectives of their topic.
Overall, even with the differences discussed throughout this analysis, this article provides
the closest framework for what I want my research to become. Being that this article is now
about 8-months old, some information needs updating which can be obtained through my own
work. Although the motivation of my research isn’t to compare Florida to other states, the
emphasis on education is the primary aim and I plan on implementing strategies that the
Northwestern journalism students showcased in their article in my personal research.

Works Cited

Agorakis, Stavros. Jasper, Mila. Laffrey, Anna. “How Florida Schools Adopted
Puerto Rican Students After the Hurricane” Sojourners, 19 March 2018,
https://sojo.net/articles/how-florida-schools-adopted-puerto-rican-students-after-hurricane.
Accessed 8 October 2018.

Medill News Service. About Medill News Service, 2017,

http://dc.medill.northwestern.edu/about-us/#sthash.VBujxiql.dpbs. Accessed 28 October
2018.