Thank You!

Welcome to the newest issue of The East Rock Record. We are back in person and after school with Yale mentors meeting each week with a team of fabulous young reporters! Although things seem to be returning to familiar rhythms, we are discovering that there is no real “normal” any longer. The pandemic has changed us all and changed the way we go about our days and our lives. This was evident during our East Rock Record brainstorming session, in which reporters discuss what issues they want to report on and write about.

The stories and opinion pieces in this issue reflect the matters that occupy students. We have written here about mental health, behavior and respect in school, safety and security, welcoming Ukrainian refugees who have fled war in their homeland and what’s happening with school lunches and “lunch numbers,” the student ID required to get food.

Our East Rock Record survey showed that most students — 70 percent of those surveyed — are “happy that school is back in person.” But what that looks and feels like has been shaped by struggles across our culture that students at East Rock Community & Cultural Magnet Schools — like young people around the country — are grappling with. It is important to reckon with this experience. We are proud to share reporting and opinion on difficult, but critically important subjects.

As always, we are grateful to all who have contributed to this issue, particularly Yale’s Office of New Haven Affairs, which makes this program possible. Special thank you to Claudia Merson and Maria Parente. We appreciate our supporters, including Yale New Haven Health, The Study Hotel, The Yale Center for British Art, The Diaper Bank (which distributes our print issue to their community partners) and leaders at East Rock Community & Cultural Studies Magnet School. We offer particular thanks to Principal Sabrina Breland, a steady and stalwart supporter and generous interviewee. We are grateful to the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C. and Dr. Lawrence Tabak, who made himself available for a terrific press conference on April 20 (and even shared breaking news!)

We are also grateful to all those who made time to be interviewed by our reporters. Our young journalists are brave and curious, unafraid of tackling difficult issues. We appreciate all those who have joined us to take questions and provide answers.

We are thrilled to be back in person and to be publishing both in print and online. Enjoy this issue!

Laura Pappano & Samantha Naja