Since the fall of 2014, City Limits has operated a paid training program for high-school and college-aged students who learn and apply the skills of investigative journalism as they report on issues affecting their own neighborhoods. Along with after-school and weekend cohorts during the spring and fall school semesters, City Limits also operates an intensive, four-week summer program. Here is our team for the summer of 2020:
Madison Garrett is a rising junior at Saint Saviour High School from Brooklyn, New York. When she is not tumbling at cheerleading competitions, she is writing for her school newspaper, Skyline. Madison also volunteers for her school’s social media account, occupies the position of the court reporter for her school’s Mock Trial, and has co-founded her school’s Afro-Caribbean Student Association Club. On weekends, Madison can be found at a Girl Scout meeting where she is in the process of obtaining her Gold Award on the issue of the increased suicide rate among African American adolescents. In her spare time, Madison is a member of the National Council of Negro Women, where she holds the position of vice president of the Midwood Vicinity section. Madison is an aspiring political commentator and longs to appear on a major news channel performing her passions of advocacy and journalism.
Mia Gindis is a returning City Limits intern and a rising freshman at the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY Baruch. She’s fostered a passion for english/literature since childhood, and is now focusing her love for the written word toward studying journalism. Mia was a frequent contributor at The Spectator, her high school’s acclaimed newspaper, where she sat on the opinion’s department. She’s also won several honors for her work through the “Scholastic Art and Writing Awards” including a Silver Key for an article she wrote about the rise of anti-Semitism in America. Mia often has her pieces published in various magazines, including “Teen Ink.” In her free time, Mia can be found devouring fiction at the library or playing tennis. She resides in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
Kate Griem is a summer intern at City Limits and a rising senior at Hunter College High School in Manhattan. Her passions lie mainly in writing, politics, history, and social justice. She is especially interested in education, reproductive rights, and immigration issues, among others. She is the co-editor-in-chief of her school’s newspaper, What’s What, and the co-director of Teens Resist, an online resource center aimed at providing teens with direct and easy ways to get involved in activism. She has seen her work published in Teen Vogue and The Cut. She hopes to study journalism, political science, and/or psychology in college.
Rainier Harris is a rising senior at Regis High School and a Queens native. His work is in City & State NY, Curbed NY, YR Media, The 74, City Limits and Gothamist, among other publications. He received two National Silver Medals in Scholastic Writing Awards for journalism and is a member of the Center for Court Innovation’s Youth Justice Board. Rainier likes writing about youth, race, police, and surveillance and wants to become an investigative journalist for his career. His Twitter is @harris_rainier.
Samuel Hyland, 17, is a rising senior at Energy Tech High School in Astoria, Queens. A passionate advocate for social justice, he serves as the president of his school’s Community Service Club, along with being the founder and leader of the Students on Safety chapter. This past school year he established his school’s first Student Newsletter, which he plans to expand into a newspaper program soon. Hyland is honored to have received a 2020 Regional Scholastic Art and Writing “Gold Key” Award, along with an American Voices award nomination, for a freelance report he conducted on the role of race in religion centered in both the East Village, New York and Togo, West Africa. His website is sammysworld.org and he can be found on Twitter at @samuelhylandd.
Karla Munoz is a first-gen rising freshman at Amherst College where she will be studying English and Math. She was born in Mexico but moved to Queens, New York, when she was young. While in high school, she was involved in her high school’s newspaper club, National Honors Society, Minds Matter, several STEM programs, and has interned at Columbia’s Medical Center where she helped conduct research in the biomedical field. As a strong advocate for immigrant rights, she believes that journalism will allow her to tackle and look further into the everyday struggles of the immigrant community. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and playing her favorite video game.
Lauren Pehlivanian is a recent graduate of Stuyvesant High School and an incoming freshman at Duke University, where she plans to pursue computer science and history. She is excited to intern at City Limits this summer and to combine her lifelong love for reading with her interest in current affairs and government. Lauren resides in the Lower East Side and is an active member of her community, where she is a volunteer with the Chinese-American Citizens Alliance and was a past intern with the Lowline. In her spare time, Lauren sings at the Trinity Youth Chorus and plays tennis, but she can most likely be found crocheting while watching another sitcom.
Muna Saed is a rising senior at The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem and a Class of 2025 Fellow at The Opportunity Network. She currently interns at CLARIFY and aspires to be a successful journalist in the future. She is very involved in a wide range of school clubs including the Gender-Sexuality Alliances, where she comes alive during debates and discussions regarding injustices the LGBTQ+ community faces. Muna takes pride in being a part of the Step Up Women’s Network, where she builds relations with professionals and seizes leadership positions during activities. Muna spends her free time obsessively reading, writing, painting, and utilizing her (small) social media platform to shed light on social injustices. She resides in Harlem.
Julia Stern is a rising junior at the Brearley School. She is the Arts and Culture editor for her school newspaper, and is interested in pursuing a career in journalism. Last summer she was a student at the Institute for Environmental Journalism and the article she wrote during that program was syndicated and published by Microsoft News. Julia was an intern at City Limits in the fall, and she is so excited to be returning this summer.
Arushi Talwar became interested in journalism after participating as a staff writer for her school’s newspaper. She enjoys playing sports and is on the fencing and softball team at school. Outside of school, Arushi likes starting unique projects, such as her own start-up business and delving deeper into graphic design research. In the future, she hopes to learn more about creating a strong social impact in the neighborhood, and giving back to her community.
