Fresnoland is thrilled to announce the start of a new full-time education reporter on our staff — and we’re even more pleased to report that they’re a familiar face.
Diego Vargas, who started at Fresnoland in the fall of 2023 as a student writer, is joining us full-time as a Report for America corps member, covering education.
Fresno County is home to the state’s third largest school district, Fresno Unified. A majority of the district’s roughly 70,000 students can’t do math or read at grade level, and haven’t been meeting those standards for years.
Diego, who started in the role July 7, has already hit the ground running, digging into how those students could now be affected by the sudden freeze of federal funding for California schools. He’s also zeroed in on possible impacts to the district’s growing population of English learners, who continue to struggle to bounce back academically in the wake of the pandemic.
He said he looks forward to continuing to meet the moment by reporting on how Fresno students are faring under the weight of the Trump Administration’s mass deportation campaign and developing technology like generative AI.
“That’s what we’re trying to do at Fresnoland, and that’s what I’m trying to do with my beat: I’m trying to serve parents,” he said, “serve students … serve the greater Fresno area.”
Diego first moved to Fresno County in middle school after growing up in Aurora, Illinois (of “Wayne’s World” fame, he notes). Since then, he’s lived in the southeast county island of Malaga.
He graduated from Fresno State in 2024 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication and Journalism and held editorial positions at the university’s student paper The Collegian.
Diego is also bilingual and reports in both English and Spanish.
When he’s not reporting, you can catch him taking in the sights at Woodward Park or at one of his favorite spots in town: That includes Asiana Kitchen on Magill and Don Tacha on Blackstone. The latter he says has “never failed” him whenever a 9 p.m. burrito craving hits.
You can reach him at diego@fresnoland.org. In fact, he encourages you to do so.
“I’m a member of the community, too,” he said. “I welcome those interactions.”
Diego’s position is partly funded by Report for America, a national program that places talented journalists in newsrooms across the U.S. to report on topics that don’t frequently get much coverage. His work is also supported by The James B. McClatchy Foundation, a longtime Fresnoland partner.
But reporting the stories he’ll take on requires significant resources. Please consider becoming a Fresnoland member to help us match the funds required to pay his full salary and continue supporting journalistic excellence from Diego and his colleagues.
