Please welcome our 2026 Summer Internship Program participants, New Canaan High School rising senior Valentina Fuentes Jimenez, and University of Connecticut senior Jack Zussman, a town resident.
This summer’s internships are sponsored by Karp Associates and the New Canaan Racquet Club.
We met with Valentina and Jack on Sunday afternoon for an introductory interview.
Here are transcriptions of our conversations:
Valentina Fuentes Jimenez
New Canaanite: Give us some background on you. How long have you been in New Canaan? What schools did you come up through?
Valentina Fuentes Jimenez: I moved here in fourth grade, and I went into East School. I did half of East School in fourth grade, then I did all of middle school at Saxe, and then I moved to the high school. Um, in rehearsal, what I do at the high school, obviously journalism, I’m going to be an editor-in-chief next year, which is very exciting. I’m very interested in writing. I also have my own newsletter called the ANH Business Ledger. That’s a student publication for business and current events. I have writers from California to Connecticut, from Texas to Michigan. I have 36 student writers and about 3,000 subscribers, which is very exciting. I’m also going to be the captain for the varsity field hockey team. I spend my time doing that, as well, so I’ll be leading a few clinics throughout the summer. I’m also the founder and president of the Business Consultants Club. We do consulting engagements with local businesses, most recently Lesser Evil, where we presented to their CEO and COO at their headquarters in Danbury with my team, and we’re hoping to do another project in the summer, as well. And I just love my English classes. I’d say my favorite subjects are AP [Language] and also history.
Where did you move here from in fourth grade?
Chile.
And is that where you’re from originally?
Yes. I was born in Santiago, Chile, and I lived there my whole life until I moved over here. My mother’s from Bolivia, and my dad’s from Chile.
Tell me about your interest in journalism. Where did that start, and what do you enjoy about working at the Courant or taking your journalism classes at high school?
I love journalism because I love immersing myself in stories. I think the best way to learn is learning as you do, and writing and reporting on things that are happening around me, especially at my school community, allows me to learn a lot about not only myself, but also who I’m surrounded by. I’ve always loved writing since I was little. I would do poetry contests, essay contests, and I won the New York Times 300 Pen Teen Tiny Memoirs [contest] recently, so I just love writing. I think my favorite thing about being an EIC recently is, at the end of the year when the seniors leave, I had a little bit of a taste to put myself in that position. I think what I love the most is because journalism isn’t about who has the best pen, but it’s about making sure that every student’s voice is able to be uplifted through the page and put on the page equally. And I love seeing everybody grow through the class, as well. I think it’s an amazing opportunity to immerse myself in everything that’s happening around me.
What are you looking forward to about this summer, summer internship?
I’m looking forward to learning more about New Canaan in itself, New Canaan as a town. I think it’s shaped me as a person since I moved here. I love the [downtown]. I’ll eat dinner with my family here. I’ve made lifelong friends here in New Canaan, so I’m looking forward to writing and reporting and meeting new people.
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Jack Zussman
New Canaanite: Jack, tell us a little bit of your background, where you’re from, and how long you’ve been in New Canaan, what are you doing now?
Jack Zussman: I’m a senior at UConn. I’m a journalism student. I’m originally from Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California. I’ve been in New Canaan for the last three years. Right now I’m doing freelance writing, mostly food reviews, restaurants, as well as I’m a pre-law student, so I’m studying for the LSAT.
Pacific Palisades, that was hit by the fire?
Right. That was the one in the fire a couple of years ago, a year-and-a-half ago.
Is your old home gone?
It’s still there, surprisingly. All the homes around are burned down except my house.
So tell me about your interest in journalism. When did that start? Did you enter UConn knowing you would be a journalism major? Tell me about that.
I actually entered UConn as an English major, and then I was just kind of tired of reading old Emily Bronte books, and I’ve always loved Anthony Bourdain, always loved travel journalism and learning about culture and people. I switched to that major my junior year. Just the process of finding a story, interviewing people, and then being able to write about who they are in my own words is something I really do enjoy.
Tell me about this summer. What are you looking forward to? What do you like to cover?
I’m really interested in learning more about the town. I’ve been here for three years, but I don’t have a good understanding of the culture of the town. I came from a very big town. This is much smaller. I’m more interested in covering local restaurants, the people that live here, who’ve been here for their entire lives, the history of the town. I would be curious to cover local government and see how that works, as well.