HTHS Student Story Selected for Mentor Text for NYT Contest

(Secaucus, NJ––October 13, 2021) High Tech sophomore Jiwoo Bae created a comic panel that was selected as a mentor text for The New York Times Coming of Age in 2021 contest, announced Ms. Kathy Young, Principal of High Tech High School.

Bae, a resident of Secaucus, participated in the Coming of Age 2020 contest with former English teacher Mrs. Joan Marie Belotti. For the 2020 contest, participants were challenged to capture a “moment in time” from their lives. Running from September 10 through November 12, 2020, the contest drew over 5,500 entries across a range of multimedia platforms and mediums. The success of the contest, and the enduring struggle of young people over the course of the pandemic, has led to The New York Times running the contest again.

For the 2021 contest, organizers provided twenty “mentor texts” to demonstrate to would-be participants the caliber and range of entries. Jiwoo Bae’s piece, titled “Lucid Dreams,” features a single page from a longer comic series. You can see the comic and learn more about the contest at this link.

Scroll to top