
Teen Writer Highlight: Kaylee Pierre
This month, we are highlighting teen writer Kaylee Pierre. Kaylee is a rising junior, anime lover and future lawyer who plans to fight for systemic change in our justice system. Following her heroes, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, Kaylee is passionate about American politics, and fell in love with mock trials through joining her speech and debate club.
Kaylee joined our annual Summer Writing Workshop after learning about it through her school’s Google Classroom, and instantly became interested in its theme: racism in the U.S. Due to many discriminatory acts that took place online by members of her school, Kaylee searched for ways to hold her classmates accountable and start conversations about racism. This led to the stories she wrote during the summer. Kaylee’s goal is to see dramatic change in her school.
During the summer, Kaylee found community with other young people from New York City, who had an interest in having the same conversations she wanted to have in her school. Kaylee specifically loved the conversation on the documentary film they screened called Zip Code Matters, where they named racist policies that are still happening today. These lessons became insights for writing her own stories.
Kaylee believes in the power of stories “100%,” and knows that storytelling can not only change someone’s career path, but also someone’s life.
After the summer workshop, Kaylee prepared to enter her junior year of high school. She begins the assembly of her speech for her debate team as well as her school’s mock trial and moot court team. She’s looking forward to the new experiences to come, while continuously working on her writing. Currently, Kaylee is using her power of storytelling to write about the dangers that tea pages have on young people.
Story Highlight: “Stereotyped Into Silence No More” by Kaylee Pierre