[2007] Journalist Profiles

Aquib Ali
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton
A passionate Mets fan, Aquib Ali is a humorous 16-year-old with ambitious goals for the future. Aquib is currently attending DeWitt Clinton High School and will graduate in June, 2008, after which he plans to continue his education at the University of Buffalo, where he hopes to delve deeper into the world of journalism. This sports fanatic loves to play a variety of games, especially baseball. Aquib aspires to be a sports journalist and create his own sports show. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of accomplished sportscasters such as Gary Cohen, Al Michaels, and Chris Berman, because he admires how dedicated they are to their profession and how well they report sports news, events and issues. Aquib knows the road ahead for him will be long and arduous, but he is determined to accomplish his goal no matter what obstacles come his way. And regardless of the level of success and fame he achieves, Aquib promises never to forsake his home country of Pakistan. “Even though I have been living in America all my life,” Aquib says, “I will never forget my Pakistani roots.”
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Tamesh Sukul



Name: Ericka Aguilar
Age: 17
School: DeWitt Clinton High School

If you look at 17-year-old Ericka Aguilar, you would see a future journalist for a well-known magazine. Aguilar hopes to work for publications like the famous CosmoGirl! magazine. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School as a proud part of the class of 2008, she looks forward to a promising four years at the College of Manhattan, where she hopes to take part in a specialized course focusing on magazine publishing. Aguilar enjoys spending her spare time reading, writing, and swimming. Her favorite book happens to be Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret, by Judy Blume. “I felt like the main character related to me because of all the troubles she was going through at the time. She reminded me of myself,” says Aguilar about the book. She also enjoys watching movies with her friends. Comedies are her preferred type of movie, especially the popular film starring the Wayans brothers, White Chicks. With an open mind towards important issues and a true passion for journalism, we can see that Ericka Aguilar is a girl who will pursue and achieve her dreams.
--- Stacy-Ann Ellis


Name: Alberto Aquino
Age: 17
School: Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy
Captain of his school’s soccer and wrestling teams, as well as right fielder for its baseball team, Alberto Aquino, 17, is very involved in extra curricular activities. A senior at the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy High School, Alberto also covers current events and politics for the academy’s newspaper, “The Gazette.” Alberto is a lover of politics and journalism and wants to continue these studies throughout college by majoring in either political science or international affairs. Since New York is very appealing to Alberto, he plans to attend a nearby college such as SUNY-Albany or SUNY-Binghamton. Alberto idolizes Barack Obama for his success as an African American and how he made it to the U.S. Senate, and maybe beyond, even though the odds were stacked against him as a man of color. Like Obama, Alberto aspires to help people, by either becoming involved in politics himself or becoming a journalist and notifying people of political developments. “I want to be able to help as many people as I can and change the world,” says Alberto.
-- Mehadi Hassan



Name: Shahida Arabi
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton

Upon meeting Shahida Arabi, one might think her an overachieving perfectionist. The truth is, she is an overachieving perfectionist. But that’s just a part of her and it does not entirely define her. This native of Bangladesh describes herself as “versatile and philosophical” and given some time spent with her, it is easy to see why. Her favorite books are the ever popular “Harry Potter” series and when asked if she had the opportunity to live during any time period other than the present she says it would be during the United States Suffrage Movement. She lives her life by the famous Eleanor Roosevelt saying, “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Arabi also loves the book The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. She relates her own life to this book, in that she approaches the world with wonder, acknowledging that as she gets older, she will begin to lose her innocence and see the world for what it really is.
-- Deidre Thompson



Name: Christine Baerga
Age: 17
School: DeWitt Clinton High School
Christine Baerga is 17-years-old and currently attending DeWitt Clinton High School. She likes to take risks and is a very outgoing person. Christine hopes to become a fashion or sports journalist one day. Two things she fears most are death and failure. Her favorite quote is “Pain is weakness leaving the body.” Her interests are playing softball and hanging out with friends. She loves to travel and has visited Puerto Rico, Aruba, Spain, Africa, Venezuela, California, and Florida. Christine Baerga: World Traveler!
-- Eric Pagan, Jr.

Name: Elira Brucaj
Age: 16
High School: Lehman High School

Confidence is the first thing you notice about 16-year-old Elira Brucaj. It’s evident the minute she opens her mouth. She gives off the impression that she knows exactly what she wants out of life. But she says that it has taken her a little while to reach this level of self-assurance. She had to overcome her self-esteem issues. “I just stopped caring what people think about me,” said Elira. “It enabled me to push forward and it didn’t hold me back from doing things in front of people.” Now she feels really proud of herself. Elira’s display of confidence shows that she has the potential to do whatever it is she sets her mind to, which, by the way, are two choices that could not be more different from one another: becoming a magazine writer or a dentist.
-- Rosa Mancia


Name: Ashley K. Dreier
Age: 17
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

Throughout people’s lifetime they experience tragic events. Ashley K. Dreier’s uncle died in 2002. This was something very difficult for her to handle as an 11-year-old. At the time, she had not seen him since her previous birthday, but still felt very close to him. Ashley does not know why her father did not attend his brother’s (her uncle’s) funeral, but she was very hurt by it. She felt like her family never really said goodbye to him.
Many people have different opinions as to who would be the hardest person to lose in one’s life, but to Ashley, it would be her boyfriend. They have been together for only seven months but this has been enough time for her to fall in love with him. The reason that Dreier believes he would be the hardest person for her to lose is not just because he is her boyfriend, but also because of the fact that she believes that a spouse dying is the most tragic thing for someone to endure. When someone close to you dies, you have your partner or spouse there to turn to for support and comfort, but if that is the person to go, your strongest, closest source of support goes too. You may have other people to turn to, but as Ashley says, “it’s not the same.”
Despite her early exposure to loss, Ashley’s life is filled with many joys and fond memories. The fact that she can’t pick a specific one shows that she has a lot of happiness in and around her. It is a combination of her joyous memories and upsetting times that have made her the person she is today: a young lady on the verge and in search of her career.
Keisha Ramos



Name: Malisa Dutson
Age: 16
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

During this past semester at Herbert H. Lehman High School, Malisa Dutson wrote for the school newspaper, Voice of Lehman. She has always been aware of her passion for writing and her involvement with the Voice helped her to realize it fully. Aside from writing, Malisa also enjoys drawing and listening to a diverse variety of music. “I listen to everything,” she says. “From Arabic to heavy metal. Everything.”
After attending college, Dutson hopes to write for a living and publish a book of poetry. She values substance and emotion in her poetry far more than rhyme and structure. Her ultimate goal is to be respected as an author whose work deeply touches her readers.
-- Jean Kapkanoff



Name: Stacy -Ann Ellis
Age: 17
School: Bronx High School of Science

Born and raised in Flushing, Queens, Stacy-Ann Ellis currently attends Bronx High School of Science. With her easy-going personality and love of writing, Stacy-Ann hopes to work at a magazine after graduating from college. She is surely a driven person. During the school year, Stacy-Ann wakes up in the morning and begins getting prepared for a day of classes at 5:30 a.m. in order to be on her bus to school by 6:15. “My school is very competitive,” she says, explaining her early start and long daily commute. Even with all the stress of classes Stacy-Ann does find time extracurricular activities; she is active in the Black Organization for Student Strength/ West Indian Society(BOSS/WIS), and also practices cheerleading and step. “I love to dance, and have been dancing for the past 11 years,” says Stacy-Ann. With her outgoing personality she also doesn’t feel shy about public speaking – in fact, she is a natural at it!
-- Carol Fernandez



Name: Carol Fernandez
Age: 17
School: Dewitt Clinton High School


Carol Fernandez is a 17 year-old student at Dewitt Clinton High School. In the start of fall ’07, Fernandez will enter her senior year and she will also be the editor in chief of the school’s newspaper. Fernandez has her sights on a career in journalism. Another goal in her life is to make a huge impact on the world! She believes that by making differences in the lives of others, she will feel better about herself. Fernandez says her inspiration for becoming a journalist was her idol the book “El Alquimista” by Paulo Coelho. Fernandez had to read the book for class; now, it’s her favorite piece of literature. “After reading the book, I knew that I wanted to become a journalist,” Fernandez stated.
-- Ericka Aguilar


Name: Mehadi Hassan
Age: 17
School: Bronx High School of Science

Mehadi Hassan is an incoming senior at Bronx Science with a promising future. He plans to attend CUNY Honors College and major in computer science or physics. He already has enough credits to enter his first day in college with at least a semester already completed. But he will not be resting during his last year in high school. Mehadi is planning to take three more AP classes next year and will be continuing his participation in the high school track and fencing teams. Even with his heavy workload and many extracurricular activities he was able to get through his junior year with a high average. By 2008 he will graduate high school with credit for four AP courses and with two “College Now” courses. Mehadi has dreams of someday working for NASA and is interested in someday becoming a surgeon. Although Mehadi works very hard in school he takes advantage of his free time. On the weekends he enjoys sleeping for long hours, playing video games and hanging out with his friends.
Mehadi was born October 29, 1990 in Bangladesh. When he was eight years old his family moved to New York in pursuit of better economic and educational opportunities. He came to the United States not knowing anyone or any English. “Nothing is impossible in life if you work at it” says Mehadi. With hard work and dedication he was able to learn the language. If Mehadi continues to have the same motivation and drive that he has had so far, he will surely go very far in life.
-- Alberto Aquino



Name: Jean Kapkanoff
Age: 16
High school: Herbert H. Lehman High school


Jean Kapkanoff is proud to say that some of her role models are authors of books she enjoys reading. Her genres of choice is fiction. Stephen King, Christopher Rice, and Anne Rice are amongst her favorite authors. Their books have had a very strong effect on her; after reading them, all she can think is “How did they do that?”, because the writers have found ever new ways to amaze her. The books inspire Jean in her own writings. Besides writing, in her spare time Jean enjoys drawing. What she likes to draw most are eyes. The human eyes shape and expressions are what fascinate her most, says Jean.
-- Malisa Dutson



Prabjot Kaur
Age: 16
Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy

This wondrous child, blessed by her parents, opened her eyes to the world on December 16, 1990. Prabjot Kaur, “Jodie” for short, is a wishful soul who has big dreams of becoming independent and one day occupying a seat at the United Nations as a diplomat. She lives in the borough of the Bronx with her “Crazy Indian Family.” She says her mom is the craziest, which is why she looks to her mom when in need of wisdom and help. She also admires the words of Elie Wiesel, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and author of the Holocaust memoir “Night.”

Jodie attends Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, taking several A.P. classes, and is well on her way to realizing her dreams. She enjoys doing things like graffiti art (“Not on private property,” she says, “that I consider vandalism.”), playing basketball, studying history, and tutoring kids in math and English for community service. With her straight forward personality, outspokenness and determined attitude, she is Jodie, the future United Nations diplomat.
Adam Mohan



Name: Rosa Mancia
Age: 17
High School: High School of Fashion Industries

Rosa Mancia is a charismatic 17-year-old girl who likes reading, shopping, and hanging out with her friends. Her mother is from Guatemala and her father from El Salvador. She is not afraid to try new things and is always finding original ways in which to express herself. Rosa’s favorite subject in school is English. Her interest has led her to participate in Lehman College’s College Now program for journalism. She considers herself reliable, independent, and a good listener, all qualities perfect for a career as a journalist. Rosa also depends on her unique personality and open-mindedness to set herself apart from the rest of the world.
-- Elira Brucaj




Name: Eric Pagan, Jr.
Age: 17
School: Aldai Stevenson High School

Eric Pagan, Jr., a Bronx native, took his first breath on July 31st, 1990 at Mt. Sinai Hospital. He was raised by both his parents, Carmen and Eric, Sr., to whom he remains very close. He expects to graduate from Stevenson High in the summer of 2008 and move on to become an accounting major at Hunter College. Eric aspires to own his own company one day. A fan of boxing, he goes to a gym every day and trains at building stamina to excel at this grueling, but thrilling sport. Boxing accounts for one source of Eric’s enthusiastic spirit – his friends and family another: “I can’t be around boring people,” Eric says. “I like to surround myself with people who are hype.”
-- Christine Baerga


Name: Keisha Ramos
Age: 17
School: Herbert H. Lehman High School

Keisha Ramos, a 17-year-old student at Herbert H. Lehman High School, was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, on January 9, 1990. After living in Puerto Rico for the first eight years of her life, Keisha’s family decided to move to New York in May of 1998. Although sad about leaving her hometown, Keisha was excited about the move and thought of it as a new adventure. Currently she lives in the Bronx with her mother and two brothers.
Being a person who likes to have fun, Ramos is rarely found at home. If she could, she would be outside all day and night. A passion of hers is dancing. She has taken mambo lessons for the past three years and recently finished up her last year at Starlight dance studio. She still loves to dance, but discontinued her classes solely because of the useless drama with the people there. “The drama was unnecessary and just took all the fun out of dancing,” she says. “I’ll still dance with my friends and have fun with it, but no more mambo classes for me.” Besides dancing, Ramos’ hobbies include reading, writing, listening to music, talking on the phone, hanging out with friends, “the basic girl stuff,” as she puts it.

There are a lot of things that make up Keisha Ramos. All and all, she is a kind person, someone who grows from her bad experiences, and a smart girl who is now focusing on her studies in order to pursue a writing career.
-- Ashley Dreier


Tamesh Sukul
Age:16
School: Dewitt Clinton high school

Tamesh Sukul is a shy, yet outgoing 16-year-old from the Bronx. Tamesh is entering his senior year at Dewitt Clinton High School, after which he hopes to attend college and pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. Some of the activities he enjoys are playing basketball, and hanging out with his friends and family. Tamesh is a car enthusiast and collects Slam and Dub magazines. He has fond memories of visiting his uncle in Guyana a few years ago. His uncle took him all around Guyana and helped enhance

Tamesh’s knowledge of his country of origin. He cherishes this moment because it was his last memory of his uncle, who passed away shortly after. “Anytime life is getting me down, I just think about the time I spent that hot summer in Guyana with my uncle,” said Tamesh.
-- Aquib Ali


Deidre Thompson
Age: 16
School: DeWitt Clinton High School

At first sight, it is easy to stereotype Deidre as the typical honors student. And often this is what people tend to do. Yet Thompson is more than just her "Honor Student" façade. "They see the glasses and the big book-bag and they think I am a goody-two-shoes," Thompson says, refuting the commonly held misconceptions. "They think I go to church every Sunday, but I curse a lot, and I only go to church once a year...on Easter!" Thompson does genuinely enjoy pursuing intellectual endeavors such as mathematics and history, the latter of which will soon be her major at college. Yet whether it be her admiration for the counterculture and activism of the 1960's or her facility with the quadratic formula, it is evident that Thompson's analytical, honest and practical outlook on life is what will make her a viable intellectual asset to today's society.
Shahida Arabi



Amanda Yuan
Age: 16
High School: The Bronx High School of Science
Amanda Yuan lives with her mom, dad, and older sister in Middle Village, Queens. She will be a junior next year and plays on the junior varsity volleyball and junior varsity softball teams at Bronx Science. Amanda is very excited about participating in the College Now Journalism class because it will help her prepare for the honors journalism class that she’ll be taking next year. After high school, Amanda would like to attend either M.I.T. or Cooper Union. She is considering becoming an architect because she excels in both math and art. Even with all this planned out, she says, "I'm still open about my choices."