“There is a bias against aging and it is often seen as menacing and unattractive. Why is growing old not seen as beautiful? What is the obsession with staying young? Why do we accept that growing old is growing into the unadorned part of life? 

I turned eighteen around a week ago and as a senior in high school, anxieties around getting older and having more responsibility have flooded my mind. I wanted to start with this quote from the notorious novel The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:  

'I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked . . . I saw myself sitting in the crook of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.'  

My project focuses on my fig tree. What lies ahead of me is undetermined and intimidating. I have painted multiple trees that represent different parts of my life and my future, along with “figs” which you can pick out and see how people perceive aging. I asked over sixty people in my everyday life what aging means to them, and compiled the most common answers and wrote them on the “figs” I made. Some are positive, some are negative, but most are both. Aging comes with its hurdles and peaks, and no matter the chosen fig from my tree, I am bound to face difficulties. It’s beautiful and terrifying. Growing old is an incredible feat. I hope through my work you can experience the beauty of being alive and aging.” —Cleopatra

“My project is a collection of comics, called In the Silence, that details minority experiences in STEM spaces. I chose to do this because I noticed a pattern in my community, a very rampant and serious problem, that minorities were often overlooked, ignored, and talked over in STEM spaces. 

The comics are a collection of three separate stories all taken from real experiences of real people in my community. I chose this project to help people feel seen, but also to start a conversation about these topics. One of my hopes for this project was that one day one of the people who would make me or anyone else in my community feel small or unseen or ignored, would pick up one of my comics and read it and see themselves. And maybe not change fully, but change even just a little.” —Foreste

“I come from a family with mixed Jewish and Latino ethnicities, and have never really felt that I’ve seen my full identity represented. Because of this, I chose to make my project a zine focused on sharing the stories of people from various backgrounds of mixed race, ethnicity, and culture. While each person interviewed had a different background, life experiences, and opinions, there were also many connections between them, such as feeling a better ability to understand outside perspectives coming from a mixed background. Throughout this project, I got a chance to speak to others in my community and learn both more about them, as well as explore more of my own identity and express it creatively. This process was really interesting for me because I came into this program with no idea of what I wanted to do for my project because I couldn’t think of a way to bring any part of my identity into activism, but throughout this year, I think I’ve learned a lot more about what makes up identity and working through that in the process of creating the zine and speaking with others who had similar experiences to me led to a lot of self-discovery, and I think I came out of it feeling much more assured in myself and knowledgeable about my own identity.” —Maya

“My project addresses the divide between the two high schools in Piedmont. I think bias and misunderstanding stand on both sides. Many Piedmont High School students think Millenium High School really wants to keep to themselves, while many Millennium students think Piedmont High School is unwelcoming. This past year, the Piedmont Board of Education added a Millennium High School student representative to sit alongside their Piedmont High School student representative on the school board. I had the pleasure of being one of the two new Millennium representatives. I think for future Piedmont District students, having the schools collaborate and work together will create more empathetic and open-minded people.” —Orla

“My project aims to address the bias of underrepresentation of minority cultures in media. Growing up with images that don't reflect one's own identity can lead to feelings of alienation and inadequacy. 

Through my project, I seek to combat this using photography as a tool for empowerment. By capturing the beauty of minority cultures through foods, traditions, and clothing, I hope to shed light on the richness that often goes unnoticed. I believe that by showcasing these perspectives, we can foster empathy, understanding, and respect for one another. 

To bring this project to life, I collaborated with individuals from my school and community, ensuring that their experiences were authentically represented. I spent months amassing a collection of photos and conducting interviews to capture the essence of each culture. I amassed all of these photos into a collection of zines which I then distributed at my local and school library. 

My project is about amplifying the voices that may have been marginalized and celebrating the beauty of diversity.” —Sarada

“My project, entitled Reflect, is an interactive installation at my high school, Piedmont High. I aim to highlight the beauty and complexity of diversity while challenging preconceived ideas and celebrating the unique narratives that make up my school’s student body. Reflect includes student portraits painted on a reflective surface along with a QR codes to play recording in the students’ voices of moments in which they personally felt like they overcame adversity, or a moment of pride in their identity. 

It is my hope that through this installation, students and others can foster meaningful dialogue, cultivate empathy, and celebrate diversity, really see each other and inspire positive change in our own communities. Think about how you too can create a mirror to reflect someone else's perspective onto your own.  

Reflect is more than just an art project. It's a call to action, a plea for empathy, and a celebration of diversity. It's a chance to see what makes us all who we are.” —Valentina

“This topic of anti-immigration sentiments really mattered to me because my family is probably set up a little bit different than yours. Seven of my siblings joined our family as refugees when they were teens. Through them, I've been able to witness and see a lot of welcoming environments and what it means to create safe spaces. I've also been able to witness an unwelcoming environment. For my project, I decided to bring together local and newcomer teens to create a joint painting, as well as to discuss what it's like to be new to a country and to be going into a high school and what it looks like to create a welcoming environment. Overall, not everyone who came was an artist, but I'd like to think that the conversations that we had and all the things we learned were more beautiful than any painting we could have made.” —Ysabella

Amia is working on a project highlighting the disparities of mental health treatment for communities of color. Speaking with community members who shared their struggles and reflecting on her own experience, Amia was inspired to write three poems. She organized a poetry reading to create a safe space for people to express their experiences with bias and discrimination. With poetry as her medium, she aims to give voice and raise awareness of this issue. Amia is a junior at Bishop O'Dowd High School. 

Clarissa is advocating for expanded access to multi-stall gender-neutral bathrooms on her school campus. She held several community workshops to make posters and have conversations to explore gender bias, and plans to display the posters calling for more gender-neutral bathrooms on her school campus. Clarissa is a senior at Fremont High School. 

Haze believes that nonbinary/trans voices and experiences deserve to be amplified and urgently need more representation. They are creating a zine that consists of quotes from interviews they conducted with nonbinary individuals and their portraits, as well as poems Haze wrote reflecting on their own trans identity. This zine will be distributed in their school and elsewhere to educate people about the nonbinary experience, and to promote advocacy for trans rights. Haze is a senior at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts. 

Jude aims to use art making to confront exclusionary behaviors and raise awareness about the powerful effects that one's language and actions can have on others. Conducting a school-wide survey and weekly art workshops, Jude is stimulating conversations and awareness about an individual’s role in creating a culture of belonging in his school community. Jude is a senior at Drew High School. 

Mackenzie is creating a community-driven art installation in the halls of her school to help create a space of welcoming and inclusion for marginalized communities. She hosted workshops with a focus on diversity, relationship building, and art making. The resulting exhibition in her school is a reminder to all that “you belong.” Mackenzie is a junior at Lick Wilmerding High School. 

Miriam wants to address some of the internal biases in talking about mental health that are contributing to mental health crises among young people. To raise awareness Miriam is creating a podcast by interviewing members of her community and digging into their stories and struggles in talking about their experiences. Miriam is a sophomore at Berkeley High School.  

Hey, my name is Lizzeth Serrano and I am soon to be a junior at Lighthouse High! My interests are art and being an advocate for those who surround me! I have been lucky enough to be in multiple programs that helped me meet incredible people while expanding my knowledge. Some experiences as a leader that I have had are FIA, Act Girls Inc, Vision Quilt Teen Advisory, Boost UC Berkeley, Alameda County Food Bank Volunteer, and Church Leadership classes. As soon as I heard of CJM I knew it would be great to be a part of this fellowship to expand my opinion and grow as a leader. Through this leadership I hope to get to meet more teenagers my age and be able to hear different perspectives from them as well! 

Hi! I’m Shoshana and I’m a sophomore at Berkeley High School. I love doing art, whether that be painting and drawing or other things like theater and writing. Over the past months, I’ve managed to create and find my own style and strengths when it comes to my art, and I’m excited to use this and to be able to learn how to express myself further. I’m so excited for this fellowship!

Hello! My name is Odel Edralin and I am currently wrapping up my sophomore year at El Camino High School in South San Francisco. I choose to express my creativity through writing poetry, playing guitar and sketching portraits. These hobbies all sprout from my greater interests in visual art, music and film. Advocating for Asian-American representation in the media has always been something important to my identity as a Filipino-American, and I tend to find the most inspiration from artists all across the spectrum of the Asian diaspora. Supporting disadvantaged minority groups, especially LGBTQ+ youth in Black and Brown communities, continues to be something I focus heavily on bringing attention to and educating others about as well. I decided to be apart of this fellowship to provide me with a platform to spread awareness on these issues and express my feelings towards larger social injustice. I am most excited to learn from the perspectives of my peers and becoming aware of social issues that don’t impact me directly. Above all, I hope to emerge from this experience a better person than I entered.

Hi, my name is Ana. I am a 9th grader and three years ago I moved from Mexico to Oakland. I enjoy small projects that involve building or creating things whether it be a piece of art or something functional I can add at home. I want to be part of the fellowship because I want to find additional ways to use my voice since it is not something I am used to. I often struggle to speak about heavy topics and panic in situations, so I also want to develop skills such as public speaking. I want to create changes in my communities and believe this is one step that will enable me and others to do so. 

My name is April Carraway. I dream big with a lot of things and for big dreams to come true you need hard work, perseverance, talent, and also money. When I saw this internship I used this as another way to gain experience and as another stepping stone towards my goal. I'd like to work retail and learn how to work with customers so I can learn how to talk to people better in the business of working with money.

Hi! I’m Paige Clancy. I’m a freshman at Raoul Wallenberg High School in San Francisco. Over the pandemic, I have had lots of time to expand my art, especially drawing and painting. I have enjoyed experimenting with different mediums such as watercolors, oil paints, and oil pastels. Before this fellowship, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to volunteer at my synagogue as a madrecha, volunteer at sites in San Francisco such as glide memorial and the food bank, and in middle school I created a project to work against homophobia at my school. I believe it is so important that young people take action in any way that we can because the world needs change. If we don’t step up, racism, antisemitism, and bigotry will continue. I am excited to learn more about how to fight these issues through this fellowship. 

My name is Marcus Oringer. I am a freshman at Ruth Asawa School of The Arts high school in San Francisco where I am part of the Media Program. I have always had a fascination to seek light, to be critical and thoughtful of what is in front of me, the Mise en scene. The composition before our eyes. Every time I find myself curious to go out and discover new spots for the light and composure of the scene. As an artist, I have been able to explore and push the boundaries of the medium, furthering my connection with the audience and my own understanding of the medium. One interest I have is film photography. This has helped me make myself more conscious and keen decisions of each induvial shot. Taking control of the whole process from taking the still to development. Like Michael Kenna once said "It's an attempt to evoke and suggest through as few elements as possible rather than to describe with tremendous detail", I work towards making my projects and exhibitions concise and deliberate. Film photography has helped me grow as an artist, forcing me to be patient and tranquil with my work. When I heard about the program I was intrigued to join the fellowship to see what others had to say. I needed to take initiative, not as a leader but as a participant. Being a white male I had to recognize and take reasonability for my own privilege. Taking a step back and reflecting with others to create a more intuitive self. Working with other young aspiring artists in this venture could help transform how I see the world around me and strengthen my consciousness/ability to work with others in the near future. I am honored to be in the program!