Charley Belaney is a rising senior at Boston Latin School, where she helps out in the guidance office and assists the director of operations. She is also a member of multiple choirs and enjoys working with Boston Latin School theatre, both on and off the stage.
Beyond the classroom, Charley has done theatre for most of her life, but also babysits kids in her neighborhood and spent last summer volunteering as a counselor in training at two overnight camps: Camp Burgess and Hayward and Camp Summer Stars for the Performing Arts. She is also a youth leader at ZUMIX, a nonprofit organization in East Boston centered around empowering youth through the arts. Here, she not only performs, but also serves as a bridge between the youth and staff, serving as a voice for young people. Charley also extends her participation in her community as a sailing instructor at Piers Park Sailing Center. Her East Boston community is a huge part of who she is.
After living in East Boston her whole life, she has witnessed the effects of gentrification and displacement on immigrant and working-class families. This sparked her passion in using leadership and storytelling to uplift overlooked voices. She learned the power of action through her roles as researcher and performer on Open Your Heart, a year-long documentary and performance project focused on the immigrant experience in East Boston. Her experience in interviewing immigrant community activists and transforming their stories into a stage production and documentary filmed by Hoopla Productions taught her that storytelling is a powerful form of public service that can build empathy, bridge cultures, and inspire civic engagement.
This past fall, Charley had the privilege of participating in the Supreme Court Historical Society’s Hometowns Boston program. Through an intensive study of Smith v. Goguen (1974), a case centered around the Fourteenth Amendment and the importance of due process, she gained a deeper understanding of the judicial branch and the Constitution. From this experience, she learned how precedent shapes the interpretation and application of the law, further deepening her interest in the legal systems and how they work together.
During her time with the Ward Fellowship interning with State Senator Lydia Edwards, Charley hopes to use her performance skills to help give a voice to those who may be unheard and to give back to the community that made her into the person she is today. In the future, she hopes to use her knowledge of the legal systems to build a career in public service, dedicated to justice and passion in the community around her.