(New York, NY—January 22,
2015) Twenty-seven High Tech students took part in the third annual “Cyphers
for Justice: Hip-Hop Youth Summit” at Teachers College, Columbia University,
announced Dr. Joseph Giammarella, Principal of High Tech High School.
Sponsored by the
Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME), “Cyphers for Justice”
(CFJ) Youth Day summits assemble high school students, artists, community
workers, and pre-service and in-service educators from across the tri-state
area to participate in a day devoted to interactive skill-building workshops, presentations,
and hip-hop discourse centered on socio-educational justice issues.
High Tech has now
attended two of the past three CFJ Youth Day summits, and High Tech students performed
original poetry and conducted a 15-minute presentation about their experiences with
hip-hop education, spoken word poetry, social activism, and High Tech’s
school-wide poetry slam, “Word Up.”
The following High
Tech students took part in this special day’s events: Brianna Kelly of Bayonne;
Jalen Vargas of Guttenberg; Jersey City residents Jaelan Acosta, Robert Clores,
Edsel Engalla, Jr., Sade Ford, Kennedy Hargrove, Ashley Johnson, Fatmata
Kamara, Ashlesha Kulkarni, Gabriella Navas, Natalie Papas, Hamza Qureshi,
Chandni Raithatha, Vanessa Rosensweet, Cynthia Vasquez, and Ben Vock; Kelly
Molina and Devon Vaz of Kearny; North Bergen residents Emily DeCaro, Jeanette
Fernandez, and Karina Voronich; Alana Aninipot, Aaleah Oliver, and Kerri Sitty
of Secaucus; and Union City residents Kaitlin Juarez and Sabrina Quinones.
