HANH Hails Her Graduates

Yaleija Jackson recently had a bad experience with a dentist. When he pulled her tooth, it hurt. A lot.

That has only increased her career aspiration to be a dentist, and a good one. The quest begins with her entering Howard University in the fall majoring in health sciences.

Yaleija shared her story Tuesday afternoon at the Housing Authority of New Haven’s (HANH) 360 Orange St. headquarters.

There, after their regular meeting, the HANH Board of Commissioners and CEO Karen DuBois-Walton took great pride in unfolding their sixth annual ceremony in which Elm City Communities (another name for HANH) celebrated all the kids living in developments throughout the city who have just graduated from high school.

Each year since 2013, HANH staff has reached out to high school seniors to congratulate them and to invite them to a ceremony to acknowledge their achievement and to help them with their next steps at a higher learning institution, the military and/or entering the workforce.

Participants at Tuesday’s ceremony took pictures with their families and HANH officials, and then shared a festive meal and walked away with new KINDLEs.

Yaleija grew up in HANH’s Brookside development on the city’s west side. She attended Wilbur Cross as part of the school’s school-within-a-school health and culinary academy.

She graduated Cross on June 14. She happily characterized the Tuesday afternoon ceremonies as ​“real heartfelt, and a lot faster.”

There are no other docs or dentists or vets or medical professionals in her family, Yaleija said. She would be the first.

And why dentistry?

With clarity, and a lovely smile, she replied, ​“I like teeth.”

Other graduates, like Career High’s Melanie Velez, also had stories to tell. Melanie was in attendance with her dad Angel Gonzales. She said her first step out of high school is to go to Gateway Community College, where she will study psychology.

It was not her first choice. Her first love is acting, she said, and she was accepted to both the New York Conservatory and to the American Academy for Dramatic Arts, two-year colleges that prepare you directly for a career on stage and screen.

Gonzales said that his painting contracting business is just getting off the ground, and the family, which also lives in Brookside, is preparing to buy a house of their own soon. That’s why the more affordable Gateway is going to be Melanie’s first step.

“I like Shakespeare,” she said, but her immediate aim is to work in film and TV, in particular on TV superhero shows.

The organizer of the ceremonies was Colby Jenkins, who, as a James Hillhouse High School graduate back in 2013, was in the second class of high school sheepskin holders whom HANH honored.

Jenkins just received her bachelor’s degree from Central Connecticut State University majoring in creative writing. For the past years she has worked in HANH’s offices writing bulletins and other materials, and organizing the awards ceremonies.

HANH CEO DuBois-Walton called the moving ceremonies ​“the most important part of the board meeting.” She presented Jenkins with a special award.

Jenkins’s work with HANH is part of another aspect of how the authority offers opportunity and training, along with recognition, to its young people. She is part of the STEP initiative (Student Training and Employment Program), which employs young people in paid internship and training programs throughout the HANH system.

DuBois-Walton said the program employs about 12 kids.

In his charge to the graduates, HANH Board Chair Erik Clemons said, ​“I truly believe the world will be saved by artists and young people [like you]!”

The other graduates honored include: Jacqueline Torres; Jocelyn Feliciano; Kavona Kornegay; Sheylian Berrios; Shanylka Pagan; Lorenzo Loria; Daris Gaither; Kyra Brown; Amales Jimenez; Lesley Romero; Amani Knotts; and Jaira Rosetta.