ESUMS Students Go Live

“Quiet on the set, please,” said high school junior Isaiah Correia to six of his classmates. ​“And … action.” 

The scene was the cafeteria at Engineering and Science University Magnet School. The six students, seated on talk-show couches, were about to launch another episode of ​“Young Minds,” a podcast focused on social issues that impact high school students. The topic of the day: bullying.

The podcast is part of the inaugural Emerge and Expand, a course designed to afford students the ability to create compelling and engaging digital media content and immerse them in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship. The brainchild of ESUMS teachers Mylles Grant and Caysi Morgan, it has won an endorsement from David Noble, who leads the University of Connecticut’s Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

“We created this curriculum to pass on our skills and experiences and help our students capitalize on the digital age we’re living in,” said Morgan, the founder and CEO of Royal Roots Solutions, a trucking and logistics company; Grant is creator of the clothing brand UNMTCHD and Vybbes, and owner of newly opened The District, a fashion accessories store in Hamden.

The discussion this past Thursday shifted from bullying in general to cyberbullying and whether it’s more harmful than traditional bullying. 

“I would say yes, because I posted a photo on my [Instagram] story, and a few hours later I got a whole bunch of messages making fun of my ponytail,” one student said, against a backdrop of color-drenched panels picturing, among others, Kehinde Wiley, Michael Jackson, and Miles Davis in celebration of Black History Month. ​“When you get comments on how you look, that can affect your mood for the whole day.” 

“I get that,” said another. ​“Plus nowadays so many people are on their phones all the time, so they’re there for everybody to see. I feel like cyberbullying’s actually worse, because it still can reach you when you’re home or anywhere.”

“I think they’re both bad,” said a third. ​“But, yeah, when you’re being bullied at school, you can just ask to switch to another class or maybe another school, but on your phone, when people say just ignore them, just block them, they can just create another account.” 

“Let’s stop there,” Morgan said, the bell sounding as an aroma of grilled cheese wafted through the cafeteria. ​“That was really good, how you were all building off each other, not arguing with each other, and that kept the flow going.” 

“We have a philosophy where anybody in high school can learn skills like content creation, digital storytelling, and video and audio production that can make them as marketable as anybody,” Grant said later, amid the wealth of digital cameras, computers, and lighting equipment in the technology classroom. ​“Our plan is to get this program into every New Haven public school.”

Last month, Morgan and Grant met UConn’s Noble when he was visiting ESUMS. ​“He read through our curriculum and our syllabus and he said this is exactly the kind of creatorship trajectory he wants to see Connecticut high schools grow into,” Grant said. ​“And then he asked our students what entrepreneurship meant to them.” 

Among those that answered was sophomore Jaedyn Moore. ​“I told him it means being able to sustain yourself doing what you love, and without having someone looming over you,” Moore said. ​“And he said how he wanted to help pave the road for us to become entrepreneurs.” 

Overall, Moore said, ​“I’m naturally shy, but I feel like just from doing the program, the podcast, my voice has grown a lot. I’m able to hold a conversation with someone, instead of ​‘oh oh you like French fries,’ talking about real stuff.” 

“That’s what’s up,” Morgan said.