TiP@20 presents: Uplifting Teen Voices, One Story at a Time

This year, WriteBoston’s Teens in Print (TiP) celebrates 20 years of amplifying youth voices and empowering teen writers across Boston. Over the past two decades, TiP has become more than just a writing program—it’s been a creative haven, a launchpad for future journalists, a space for self-discovery, and a supportive community that teens return to year after year.

To mark this milestone, we’re sharing reflections from three incredible TiP participants (from left to right): Gloria Ekechukwu, Sivan Azoulay, and Ella Verinder. Their stories—spanning self-growth, creative exploration, and unexpected career paths—represent the heart of what TiP has always strived to do: help young people find their voice and tell stories that matter to them.

Gloria Ekechukwu is a freshman at the University of Massachusetts: Amherst, majoring in History and Political Science with a 3.7 GPA. She is preparing for an exciting summer at Oxford as part of her study abroad journey. But before all of this, her path was shaped by three years at Teens in Print (TiP), where she discovered her voice, built confidence, and formed lifelong friendships. In this Q&A, Gloria reflects on her experience with TiP and the lasting impact it has had on her life.

Gloria: I first heard about Teens in Print at a job fair, where I met [Saf Farah, a former TiP mentor] at the program’s table. Initially, I wasn’t particularly interested in writing but took a flyer home. After some encouragement from my mom, I decided to apply. What started as a summer job in 2022 quickly transformed into a space for self-discovery and personal growth.

Gloria: TiP became a place where I could truly be myself. I loved the afternoons after lunch when we’d all interact, share our work, and help each other. The friendships I formed were genuine—people were kind and supportive, not just because a teacher told them to be. That environment motivated me to take writing seriously and give my best effort.

Gloria: Before TiP, I only wrote to complete assignments. TiP helped me appreciate writing as an art form and a way to share information. It pushed me to challenge myself, and now I even go to the writing center in college to keep improving. TiP also helped me with college applications and scholarships, which made a big difference.

Gloria: TiP helped me overcome shyness and low self-esteem. Before, I didn’t make much effort to socialize. But through TiP, I learned that people genuinely enjoyed me being myself. That helped me build confidence, and now in college, I’m much more extroverted and connected with people. It also improved my mental health and self-awareness.

Gloria: The people and the mentors. Yes, the work was fun, but the people made me want to be there. They encouraged me, supported me, and helped me survive difficult days. Even something as simple as icebreakers made a difference.

Gloria: My Genesis profile was a big deal for me. I got in touch with his team, interviewed him, and wrote a piece that was challenging but rewarding. It’s one of my favorites. Another fun one was my Eurovision article—I had to watch over 20 European music videos for research, and it performed really well in readership. It was exciting to write something more lighthearted and engaging.

Gloria: I’m proud of my personal growth and the articles I published. TiP played a huge role in my self-development. The kindness and support I received were life-changing, and I take pride in how much I’ve learned and grown through the program.

Gloria: My SJI 2022 and SJI 2024 cohorts were filled with amazing people. The 2022 group was particularly special—everyone was so talented and kind. Shaniece, Isaiah, Cimmy, and Ketura all stood out as incredible, driven individuals.

Gloria: Be open to experimenting—whether with your writing, socializing, or leadership style. TiP is not an uptight program; it’s welcoming and down-to-earth. If you’re a youth leader, connect with students on their level to build trust and respect. If you’re a student, don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. You’re bound to make a great friend.

Gloria: TiP is one of the few programs in Boston that lets teens express themselves in a fun but professional way. Other programs can feel too rigid, but TiP gives teens full creative control. Boston needs more teen voices, and TiP is helping make that happen.

Gloria: Join your local newspaper, school journalism club, or radio station. Staying in those spaces will help you continue developing your voice in a professional setting.

In many ways Gloria’s story demonstrates the impact of TiP as a program that benefits teens by giving them a supporting environment in which they can experiment and gain confidence in their writing, voice and being around supportive adults. Her journey with TiP is a testament to the impact of 20 years of the program. From a hesitant writer to a confident college student studying abroad, her experience embodies the power of community, mentorship, and self-expression that TiP fosters.

Sivan Azoulay is a senior at Willow Hill School in Sudbury, MA, who for the last three years has been traveling into Boston after school to attend Teens in Print programming on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She honed her writing process and soon became part of the TiP Newsroom, where she has been driven to write insightful and far-reaching articles about political expression online. Sivan will be attending Skidmore College in the fall, where she plans to continue writing about politics and history.

During the 2020 COVID shutdown, Sivan discovered she really enjoyed writing, especially argumentative essays. Sivan considers writing as a way to “talk about injustices, what is bothering you, and express the changes you want to see in the world.”

In the fall of her sophomore year, she went looking online for a writing program that would help her develop her skills, and discovered WriteBoston’s Teens in Print. Before attending programming, Sivan met with educator Elvis Alvarado over Zoom. She remembers that conversation fondly, as he was interested in everything she had to say, answered all her questions, and reassured her that Teens in Print offers an accepting and accommodating learning environment. Sivan was then confident that TiP was what she was looking for. 

At school, writing is often a solitary process, and the teacher who grades one’s writing is often the only reader of that writing. Sivan found writing for Teens in Print a completely different process, it was “more than just writing an essay.” She describes brainstorming ideas and researching as a group, writing her article, and then workshopping, before finally seeing her articles posted to the TiP website for anyone to read. Sivan was able to take writing into a social atmosphere where she fit in, which made the process twice as rewarding. “Teens in Print is a place where you can truly be yourself,” Sivan says,”[It] doesn’t discriminate against any race, sex, or disabilities, it accepts everyone.”

What Sivan has appreciated most about her time at TiP is the opportunity to explore the city through journalism trips. She says these excursions are about “really seeing Boston, telling the story of Boston, engaging in the community, and learning a lot about city dynamics.” 

Sivan is proud of her sophomore year article The Stitches We Sew into Patriotism in America, which focused on how American nationalism is misinterpreted as patriotism, and villainizes American ideals. Balancing school assignments and a long commute to programming, writing this powerful op-ed involved a lot of time management. Sivan used every free day she could to do research and meet her deadline, one paragraph at a time, from outline to final draft. With support from TiP mentors in the newsroom, Sivan learned how to link sources to support her claims, write an effective lede and nut graph, and develop her writer’s voice. Writing for TiP was a happy departure from the blocky formulaic nature of school essay writing and Sivan appreciated the detailed feedback she received, which she says, “is so important to get students to grow.”

When asked what future TiPsters can expect from TiP, Sivan says it’s about “learning things that shape your life,” and more specifically, “how to control how your ideas come across, and how to be responsible for telling information that will inform society.” She recommends Teens in Print to any teen in any Boston area school who is interested in growing their writing skills by writing about things that matter to them, because Tipsters “are documenting ‘now’ for years to come,” and “everyone wants you to have a voice at Teens in Print.”

Ella Verinder is a senior at Boston Latin Academy who has been with TiP for four years. Since joining TiP Ella has grown into a communications expert, running and growing our social media with smart design and creative ideas.  Her favorite things to write are profiles, and running the TiP socials.

Ella: I had an English teacher when I was in seventh grade who kept telling me to sign up for TiP. I joined the next year in eighth grade. My school didn’t have a newspaper or anything like that at the time, so TiP seemed like a good space. I was also really into creative writing back then, which was what TiP was doing a lot at that time. It felt like a really good fit!

Ella: Honestly, I wasn’t super interested in publishing my writing at first. I hadn’t thought about TiP as being a place for publication when I  joined, it felt like hanging out with other kids who liked writing. I also still don’t think of myself as being a published writer, because of imposter syndrome and whatever, but at the same time I like seeing that my article gets to live somewhere other than on Google Docs and getting to say to people: “I wrote that.”

Ella: My writing goes all over the place. This year I’ve been working a lot more with opinion pieces, but last year my whole thing was quick blurbs covering events, so it’s really changed! I love telling stories though, so personal essays and profiles are always my favorite thing to write. My favorite article is “Smart and 18,” a personal essay with a prose poem incorporated.

Ella: I started making social media content for TiP super randomly. I had finished an article early, so Mohamed suggested that I make graphics for posts in our downtime. I had fun with it, and decided to join the PR group over the summer. Over the next school year, I started posting content for TiPsters, advertising their articles and events we were doing. It was something interesting and new, and I enjoyed making our Instagram look fun. The summer after that, our PR team was super strong and I learned a ton about marketing and researching analytics and writing position statements and stuff like that that goes beyond posting on social media. I was fully captivated, shout-out Haley for being a good teacher! That’s when I knew I wanted to work in PR. Since then, I’ve been managing the content schedule for the TiP Instagram, as well as writing press releases for the newsletter!

Ella: I have to say that the best thing I learned here was trust. Everyone in the TiP community is so sweet and welcoming and it always feels like a safe space. I always talk about how I met my best friend through TiP and how I’m, like, eternally grateful for that, but even the people I’m not as close to have still meant so much to me. My favorite memories are playing Just Dance with Cimmi on our trip to the Copley library, and hanging out with Gloria at Boston Calling. I’m glad I had the space to just be with people and have fun. Also learning how to write press releases is like the best thing ever, so thank you Cass!

Ella: College! I’m going to Smith to study and hang out with a bunch of other literary lesbians. I’m so, so, SO excited for it. I’ll be sure to plug TiP to everyone in NoHo!

Ella: I think my best advice for students starting TiP is just to have fun with it and trust yourself. It’s easy when you’re new, because TiP revolves around your words and ideas. TiP educators make sure you feel smart and support your ideas, and you don’t have to put a ton of pressure on yourself to do well here. The point of TiP is for teens to get to explore journalism and express themselves, so if you’re a teen and you’re writing down your ideas, you’re doing everything that’s expected of you and doing it well!

These stories are just a snapshot of the thousands of young people TiP has supported over the last 20 years. Together, they remind us why writing matters—and why youth voices deserve to be heard.