Meet Chalkbeat’s Pupil Voices fellows

This faculty yr, Chalkbeat is thrilled to pilot our Pupil Voices writing fellowship in three of our bureaus: Chicago, Newark, and Philadelphia. The autumn and spring fellows — all highschool college students in communities Chalkbeat covers — will likely be writing First Particular person essays about their lives and journeys by means of public faculty. (You may learn in regards to the fellowship program right here.) You’ll be studying extra about these spectacular and achieved college students within the weeks and months forward. Within the meantime, please be a part of me in welcoming the inaugural class of Pupil Voices fellows. Their bios and photographs are under.

Chicago

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FALL SEMESTER:

Ajibola Elizabeth Junaid (she/her/hers) is a senior at Wendell Phillips Academy Excessive Faculty. She moved from Nigeria to america when she was 13. She has taken half within the College of Chicago’s Equitable Studying and Improvement Undertaking, which works to enhance public colleges for all college students, and within the dance training venture Ahead Momentum. Ajibola plans to review biology in faculty and go on to medical faculty to grow to be an OB-GYN. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music and dancing.

SPRING SEMESTER:

Jeremiah Griffith (he/him/his) is a junior at Noble Academy. He writes about sports activities for TrueStar journal and manages his personal sports activities weblog, The Ball Discuss. Jeremiah is a TrueStar Youth Violence Prevention Ambassador and a volunteer at Rush College Medical Middle. He’s a member of the Nationwide Honors Society and his faculty’s basketball workforce. Throughout the fall semester, he’s interning at Vega Companions and Chicago Home AC.

Newark

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FALL SEMESTER:

Chimdindu Okafor (she/her/hers) is a senior at North Star Academy Lincoln Park Excessive Faculty. She is a social justice activist and organizer at present serving as a youth board member for the Sadie Nash Management Undertaking and on the steering committee of the Nationwide Agenda for Black Women. Chimdindu is “impressed by tales from city youth whose experiences usually parallel mine.”

SPRING SEMESTER:

Daniela Palacios (she/her/hers) is a senior at Science Park Excessive Faculty. Daniela can be the creator of Para KIDS!, a media firm that publishes bilingual youngsters’s tales with immigrant characters. She is the creator of a forthcoming Spanish bilingual youngsters’s ebook, “Sara’s New Nation and New Buddy/ El nuevo país y la nueva amiga de Sara.”

Philadelphia

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FALL SEMESTER:

Lin Lin (they/them) is a senior at Central Excessive Faculty. They’re the co-president of the student-run newspaper Bullhorn Information, the place their purpose is to make pupil journalism extra accessible by growing the variety of BIPOC journalists and translating articles into a number of languages. Lin was beforehand a reporter for the paper, protecting the Faculty District of Philadelphia, the place they loved writing about racial consciousness and curriculum. As well as, they’ve performed group organizing with such teams as Asian Individuals United and VietLead. Of their spare time, Lin enjoys studying and climbing.

SPRING SEMESTER:

Umme Orthy (she/her) is a senior at Science Management Academy at Beeber. She is enthusiastic about biology and needs to grow to be a physician. Umme is initially from Chittagong, Bangladesh, and hopes to offer free medical companies to folks in her hometown sooner or later. She likes to jot down about her personal experiences and categorical herself by means of writing, together with poetry. “As an immigrant pupil, there are such a lot of untold tales I need to share,” she stated. In her spare time, Umme enjoys portray, cooking, and watching Okay-dramas.

We additionally take pupil submissions on a rolling foundation. Have a pitch or a chunk that’s an excellent match for First Particular person? Learn our submission pointers, and e-mail us at firstperson@chalkbeat.org.