“We have to pour into our youth”

All it takes is one person to believe in you to change your life. That’s what happened to Jahlysa Azaret, and what she’s hoping to do for the future generation. Azaret is currently a freelance journalist, intern with All Classical Radio, and a student recruitment assistant with Black Student Magazine. It wasn’t always that way, though.

It wasn’t until Ed Madison, a professor and Co-founder of the Journalistic Learning Initiative, reached out to Jahlysa about a potential opportunity to mentor students to create a magazine titled Black Student Magazine. From there, a high school librarian, Craig Holman, reached out claiming that his students needed a Black mentor, someone who could connect with his students in a way that he wasn’t able to. Azaret took the opportunity and was able to create a connection with the kids that carried over into Black Student Media, a time in the spring for students to focus less on creating stories for the magazine, and more of a time to find their skills in multimedia.

Through this work, she now also works with Portland Parks and Rec and teaches children journalism fundamentals after school. It’s clear that Azaret has a passion for working with children and believes in their potential to change the world. 

“If we want a successful future, we have to pour into our youth.”

She consistently advocates for the youth as a form of preparation for the real world. She has experienced difficulty entering the professional journalism world, and wants to prevent the same struggles for all the children she works with. The skills learned in these workshops, classes, and meetings are applicable to the real world, journalism or not.

Azaret claims that children are capable of learning the skills needed to express themselves through journalism, they just need access to the right tools. With that in mind, her dream is to provide that access through working in children’s broadcasting or radio stations or potentially create an organization preparing soon to be high school graduates for the endless options post graduation. 

Her passion for storytelling, leadership, and journalism is more than obvious and any child that has the pleasure of working with her will benefit from it. “I’ll be a success,” said Jahlysa Azaret.