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ASSATA ANDREWS

YEARS AS MENTEE: 1

GRADE: Junior

HIGH SCHOOL: Hillside Arts & Letters Academy

BORN: New York, NY

LIVES: Queens, NY

PUBLICATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS: HALA’s BeSpoke Literary and Arts Magazine.

MENTEE’S ANECDOTE: My writing pair relationship with Megan is great. She helps me dig deep within my writing and has helped me truly learn about who I am through my writing even if I had writer’s block. My most memorable moment was when Megan and I went over my pieces for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards submissions. She was able to share similarities with me when it came to opening up about an uncomfortable topic and our favorite Audrey Hepburn movies—which I have an obsession for. I felt our connection grow stronger.

MEGAN ERICKSON

YEARS AS MENTOR: 1

OCCUPATION: Freelance writer, New York City public school teacher

BORN: Frederick, MD

LIVES: Brooklyn, NY

PUBLICATIONS AND RECOGNITIONS: The Guardian, Indiana Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Jacobin magazine.

MENTOR’S ANECDOTE: We had fun at the travel writing workshop, but it was when we began writing personal memoirs that our work together got interesting and deep. Assata shared a personal story with me about the pressure she felt to have religious faith. I was incredibly impressed by her bravery, and told her about the time I got punished as a teenager for wearing a bathrobe to pick my sister up from church. Then, we wrote first drafts together based on our experiences. She sees herself as reserved. I see a reflective and mature observer—a powerful foundation for a literary life.