Bella Russo, Co-editor in chief
Senior Bella Russo is a third year staffer for The Shield, and is currently co-editor in chief. On staff, she likes to do everything from reporting and photography to illustration and page design. Outside of newspaper, Bella is a visual arts major, PAL, writing tutor, and loves to go on joyrides in her Honda Odyssey minivan.
![Education Austin president Ken Zarifis, shown here speaking during the AISD budget stabilization task force meeting on Nov. 7, 2018, demanded on Wednesday that TEA and Austin ISD offer wholly online classes at least for the first nine weeks of the 2020-2021 school year. “We have heard too much from the commissioner [and] from the governor that would lead us down the wrong path,” Zarifis said. “We believe that they do not have the interests of workers, of students and their families in mind as they make the decisions that seem to be more guided by fiscal realities than human realities.” Photo by Bella Russo.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/46478948361_91ce2d2f96_o-2-900x505.jpg)
![WARMING UP THE FLOOR: Sophomores Olivia Capochiano and Nadine Del Gallo were the first to hit the dance floor to the mariachi music of Mac alum Juan Diaz. “I think most people were too shy [to dance first],” Capochiano said. “I wanted to break the tension.” Photo by Bella Russo.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/N20_McCallumHS_Bella-Russo_3-900x508.jpg)
![SATURDAY NIGHT’S ALRIGHT FOR FIRE FIGHTING: MAC seniors Ena Nolan and Zach King joined the rest of their LBJ Fire Academy crew in a live propane fire exercise on Saturday Oct. 12 at the Austin Fire Academy. The goal of the practice was for the group of seniors to control the fire enough for a member to get close enough to turn off the tank's gas valve, which would extinguish the flame. Earlier in the day, the juniors in the program, including MAC students Molly Odland, John Hughes, Thomas Lucey, Tex Mitchell and Will Russo, underwent an obstacle course in full gear while trying to conserve air, and stuck around afterwards to watch the seniors and to help replace their air tanks in between rotations. “I don’t even know how to describe it,” Nolan said, who is in her second year in the program. “Watching it [last year] was an ethereal experience, and doing it myself was absolutely amazing, definitely one of the most epic things I’m gonna do in the next couple of years.” Photo by Bella Russo.](https://macshieldonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/48894055598_6194b86aed_o-1-900x600.jpg)
