High School in the Community (HSC) seniors Diana Robles and Japhet Gonzalez are learning the ins and outs of advocacy and community organizing from the city’s teachers union — and they’re using their skills to help bring change to what they describe as a broken education system they experience every day.
Since October, Gonzalez and Robles have been interning with the New Haven Federation of Teachers (NHFT) and learning the importance of giving youth a seat at the table in union-led efforts to improve city schools.
Although NHFT has previously hosted college interns, this is the first time the teachers union is partnering with high schoolers for an internship experience. The students aren’t working on any union matters; instead, they’re learning from the teachers union how to rally, educate, and engage students around problems with the school district.
Over the past year, Gonzalez and Robles have discovered their passion for youth advocacy and empowering other students to care about their school and communities enough to make change. They said they were inspired by past and current New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) student leaders, like Wilbur Cross class of 2025 grad John Carlos Serana Musser and fellow HSC senior Jonaily Colón, who is serving her final year on the Board of Education.
Gonzalez and Robles have been friends since their freshman year of high school, and now they spend two afternoons per week after school at the teacher union’s 267 Chapel St. office. They were inspired to work with NHFT because of their earlier participation in student-led advocacy, including at a February rally at the state capitol, related to NHPS’ funding, building maintenance, and student support.
Seeing Gonzalez and Robles’ growing commitment to speaking up for their school community, HSC history teacher Ben Scudder encouraged the pair to seek out an internship that would help them build on that advocacy.
Since starting their NHFT internship in October, they have been learning how to rally students, collect testimonies, and communicate their peers’ needs to district and state leaders with the help of the teachers union and other local advocacy groups, like Connecticut For All (CTFA).
“This is the kind of work that doesn’t feel like work,” Gonzalez said. “We’re doing it because we care — and because students can make change.”
Robles and Gonzalez have helped create flyers for citywide student council meetings, draft outreach forms to collect feedback from other high school students, and prepare materials for rallies and public meetings to keep state and city leaders accountable to hearing students’ and teachers’ on-the-ground concerns.
In coming weeks, they plan to develop a student newsletter and Instagram page to reach a wider audience of young people, aimed at speaking up about school improvements needed and keeping them informed about advocacy efforts.
“Before this, I didn’t even know students could be part of things like this,” Robles said. “Now I want to make sure other students know what’s going on — because we’re the ones experiencing it every day.”
Both students balance the internship with packed schedules: college applications, SATs, classes at Yale, and jobs. Both hope to attend the University of New Haven together so that Gonzalez can study design, creative arts, or business, and Robles can begin her path to law school.
Their shared goal: Inspire the next generation of youth advocates.
“We looked up to leaders like John Carlos and Jonaily,” Gonzalez said. “Now we want to be that for the students who come after us.”
NHFT President Leslie Blatteau said the internship reflects the union’s belief that students should have a voice in shaping school policy. “They’re the ones most directly impacted by what happens in our classrooms,” she said. “We want to make sure their voices are part of the conversation.”
Robles agreed, arguing that “teenagers can show up and should be invited, too,” she said. “We care about our teachers and our schools.”
Blatteau told the Independent that she first met Robles and Gonzalez — whom she described as “two strong and dedicated leaders” — while organizing this year’s May Day events. She said educators’ and students’ experiences are intertwined, noting that “our working conditions are students’ learning conditions,” and that it only makes sense to push for district improvements together.
She added that the internship gives students an understanding of unions and organizing — but more importantly, teaches them how to get information into their peers’ hands so they can advocate for change themselves. Blatteau said she and the interns plan to craft a strategy for the upcoming state legislative session, and she hopes the students’ work will help build a stronger student presence in both local and state budget debates and decision-making.
As Gonzalez put it, “We’re just getting started.”