Bridging the Gap
Community and Police Justice
Brians Louissaint, aka, Cashmir was born in May 9, 1997 in Marchande Desaline, Haiti. At the age of 2 he came to the United States, and was raised in New Jersey and Brooklyn, NY. He is a singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. He is currently a junior at Midwood High School and is graduating in 2016. He wants to attend Brooklyn College and plans to double major in business and theater acting. His dream is to become a successful businessman and actor. He enjoys singing, dancing, working out, and making beats.
Brians has done many things throughout his life: auditioning for short movies, college movies, and singing the Star Spangled Banner for Governor Mario Cuomo before his passing. He also has a passion for helping others. He has participated in EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship program and it has been an experience he will never forget. Meeting new students of various backgrounds and working diligently on a New Media project has been inspiring for him. He and his peers have worked together to launch a site to educate our fellow youths and adults about police brutality in many areas in New York City.
Giovonni Rodriguez, was born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx. He is a senior at City As School. He will graduate in 2016 and either go to community college or the military after he earns his diploma. One of his dreams is to travel the world and eventually open a business. He has faced violence and poverty which he says has made him more humble. For example, he has taken part in helping the homeless in his old high school, volunteering at soup kitchens and personally giving out the kindness of his heart. He mostly enjoys trying to uncover the mysteries in life such as history, space, mind, body, spirit, and most importantly injustices.
Participating in EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship is an experience he will never forget. He is already passionate about the topic and eager for a solution, so it wasn't hard for him to be involved and show support. Meeting new students from various walks of life, as well as working tirelessly on the project website about policing and community relations, was a valuable experience for him. He hopes the skills he has and will continue to acquire will be useful in the future and he thanks EVC for such an awesome adventure.
Frank Guzman was born in Cuenca, Ecuador and raised in Guayaquil. At the age of seven, he came to the United States, and was raised in Queens on Roosevelt Avenue. He is currently in the ninth grade. He has a hard time in school, but at the end of the day he always tries his best.
He hopes to be in the class of 2019 and go to college and be a fireman. Once he reaches his goals, he would like to take his parents and live in Miami, Florida. Frank enjoys watching WWE; even though he wishes to be one, it's too extreme. Participating in EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship was an experience he will never forget. Meeting new students his age and various backgrounds, and working diligently on a new media project about religion was inspiring for him.
Elijah Canada was born in New Haven, Texas on a military base, where his father lived. He later moved to New York City, where he was raised by his single mother and his grandparents in the Bronx. He is currently a senior in University Heights High School and expects to go straight to college. As a young adolescent, Elijah found a passion for shooting black and white film on a 35mm camera through his classes at ICP and the Point.
He has devoted himself to photography and has had the opportunity to display his work at the art galleries. Elijah was also involved in the production of a film called directed by Green Hornet and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director. EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship has given young Eli the chance to push his artistic visions and skills to a new platform and also helped him learn new ways on how to help his community.
Jordi Perez was born in Boston, Massachusetts, raised in Pennsylvania, and now resides in New York. He is currently a freshman at the High School For Excellence and Innovation. He plans to graduate in 2017 and go to college outside of New York to study Film Production. One of his dreams is to visit Paris, France and create a film revolving around the Eiffel Tower. He enjoys reading about history, watching movies, and learning about new places.
Some of Jordi’s plans for the future involve travelingto various countries around the world, and making films in these locations. Participating in EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship is an experience he will never forget. For example, Jordi attended various production trips with the EVC group to further his understanding of the community issue at hand for the website. As a result, he has broadened his knowledge on the topic of community relations with police while also editing videos. He now feels confident working with Adobe Premiere as an advanced movie editor. One of the most intriguing experiences for Jordi was meeting new students in EVC with similar interests and working beside them in this New Media project.
Santa Vargas is from the Dominican Republic and was raised in New York City. She is a senior at City-As-School. This was not the first high school she went to--in fact, she struggled trying to find a great school until she found City-As-School. Since then, her life has turned positive and she is very happy she took up the opportunity for a better way for her to graduate on time. She found great internships along the way. One of them is with EVC. She has been attending this internship at for 2 cycles now, almost 2 months. She is really determined to help make a change for the future and for her community. She is very ambitious about getting things done and helping others with their struggles and being able to help create awareness around police brutality.
Tabitha Berrios was born in Manhattan, New York and now resides in Queens, New York. She is a senior at City As School High School. She has accomplished many things in her school one is creating a portfolio of her class work.
At EVC she is a youth producer and video editor. On her free time she works on her photography. She enjoys learning by experience and also plays sports. After High School she plans on going to college for 4 years and then going into the army. Her dream is to travel the world and learn more about different cultures, animals and climates.
Elijahlee Cuevas was born and raised in Bronx, NY. She is currently a senior, attending Mott Haven Community H.S. Throughout high school, she faced a lot of obstacles. Due to fluctuating living conditions, she ended up transferring into four different high schools and eventually dropped out. The thought of not becoming successful in life is what drove her back into reality. She went back to finish school. The motto she lives by is "Don't matter what you go through in life you could still become a wiser, successful person, nothing in life is impossible." As a result of her life experiences, she is a resilient person and believes putting school first and graduating will be a HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT.
Currently she is doing an internship at EVC, which is an experience of a life time because she is learning many skills, such as becoming a team player, and meeting all types of different people, having knowledge on the community issue of Police Brutality. It has also given her the experience of becoming a youth producer and working in the field, interviewing people for the website that the class is creating as a team.
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Daniel Mealy was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Breevourt Projects in Bed Stuy. He is currently a sophomore at the High School of Arts and Technology in Manhattan. Daniel wants to graduate high school and aims to attend Syracuse or Columbia University to pursue his dream of game designing. One major academic achievement of Daniel’s is that he was named valedictorian in his graduating class in middle school.
This current year he is proud to have made the global history honors class. He enjoys playing basketball, video games, and reading manga. After joining EVC’s New Media Arts Apprenticeship Daniel met many new people with so many different talents and ambitions that continue to push him to pursue his dream in game design.
Who is Liana Castillo? She is a young high school student from the Bronx. She has been living in the Yankee area for her whole life, and she is not much of a sports fan. She lives at home with her family. A mom and dad, and the middle child between two siblings. She was an art intern a few years back for a seasonal position, and then taught art to elementary school students at a summer camp. She is also a mathematician. She was taking ninth grade level mathematics when She was in seventh grade. I've always been inspired to get ahead in her art career, taking advantage of any opportunities that she can. So, I decided to join EVC New Media Arts Apprenticeship program her senior year of high school, to further broaden my knowledge for the different forms of arts. Don’t be deceived, she is very shy with the work she produces and how she introduces her work to others. But through further life exposure, she began to be comfortable with who she is and who she can become if she work toward her goals. This is the message she tries spreading to others through her works.