Youth Arts Journalism Class of 2023!

Welcome to the Youth Arts Journalism Class of 2023! We are so excited to have 11 of America’s future journalists learning with us this week. For a first writing exercise, all 11 of them split into groups to learn to write short bios of each other. Read on to meet these young people, and please greet them with open arms if you run into them on assignment!

Jordan Cagle is a 16-year-old junior at Metropolitan Business Academy in New Haven. As the third oldest of four daughters, Jordan enjoys dabbling in fashion and makeup in her free time. She currently takes classes in business and marketing at her high school, but plans to study pre-med or biology at Howard University in pursuit of a nursing-related career.

Jordan finds in journalism the opportunity to reach new audiences and change biases and beliefs. After learning about the program through her journalism teacher, Stephen Staysniak, she applied to tell the stories of Black businesses and nonprofits that are making change in New Haven and Hamden,

Now that she’s a part of YAJI, Jordan wants to write uplifting and positive stories that revolve around the movements, businesses, and happenings of groups led by people of color, and particularly Black people, in New Haven.

Kristine Figueroa is a 16-year-old junior currently attending Metropolitan Business Academy. After being a wallflower for the majority of her middle school years, Figueroa started coming out of her shell as a promise to herself to change for the better. She is constantly making new friends and doesn’t shy away from anyone anymore.

This aspiring artist has been doing visual arts for as long as she can remember. Since the third grade she has been using a pencil and paper to bring her creativity out to the world. Figueroa knows that art will be with her for many years to come. “My biggest passion is art. All I know is that in my future I want to do something that connects with art. Whether it be with graphic design or journalism like this would be cool,” she said.

Kristine recently joined the Youth Arts Journalism Initiative or YAJI to help develop her understanding of New Haven. “I want to try and learn more about my community and the communities that surround me,” she said.

Kristine wants to shed light on the developing climate crisis and how it will affect the New Haven community. She fears the rising sea levels will raise many problems for Connecticut’s coastal areas, she said. At Metro, she has worked on a documentary bringing the issue to light. “I think that if more people knew about this and we showed how important this issue is we can prevent these things from happening.”