As we celebrate one extra day of Black History Month this year (happy leap day!), we are thrilled to shine the spotlight on Black trubelmakers who are driving impact in their communities. One such remarkable individual is Juliana Noreus, a high school junior from Naples, Florida and Mapping Climate Justice 2023 alumna. She has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication to sparking community change, leveraging her own lived experience in conjunction with new skills she learned through Mapping Justice and beyond.
“My parents originated from Haiti and the Bahamas,” she shared via interview with trubel&co Associate Asenette Ruiz. “So my parents are immigrants, and they settled into Miami originally- then we moved to Naples.” In Naples, she actively engages in her school’s JROTC program, leadership initiatives in special education, and the Special Olympics program. Moreover, Juliana is part of an aviation program at her school, aspiring to obtain both a drone license and a private pilot’s license by graduation. Her passion for leadership and aeronautical pursuits reflects her commitment to personal growth and community impact. As she looks ahead to college, she shared, “I’m looking into aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering, as well as mechanical, industrial, industrial engineering because I like the idea of building big, big machinery, builds that involve a lot of mathematics and engineering skills.”
Juliana’s journey took an enriching turn when she participated in Mapping Justice, a program that focuses on data-driven approaches to address social issues. Through her involvement, Juliana gained valuable insights into the power of data and its application to real-world problems.
“Before my junior year, I was not really good at math. Math didn’t really make sense to me. But being involved in Mapping Justice really gave me a hands-on approach for making sure data makes sense to me personally — not just doing the numbers just because that’s the process, but understanding what the process is to get a result and how that data came to be. Mapping Justice helped me create a connection to real world examples to snap everything in my brain so the math makes sense. I’m currently taking calculus and now I look at data points in my independent research projects and am like, ‘Hey, that makes sense!’ because I have experience and I’ve done it hands-on.”
As a Black child of immigrant parents, Juliana has faced unique challenges in navigating her identity. “Personally as a child of immigrants, I really noticed the social economical divide — being essentially less fortunate due to there not being resources for my parents to learn certain skills and meet basic necessities. So being black and essentially having to deal with that generational experience in education means I have to work hard to hold on to my culture. I wrote about this in an essay recently, figuring out how to make the perfect American Pie, you know, like the American lifestyle. Going to school, doing extracurriculars, taking AP classes, aceing those classes — but then at home, you’re Haitian and you’re a Bahamian, so being able to go speak a multitude of languages at your home, while you’re basically speaking English half the time at school — sometimes it’s very difficult when they’re crossing in your mind. There’s not this perfect thing that you can follow into fitting into a mold of being a first-gen American.”
Juliana has been putting her experience with migration, and Mapping Justice-learned GIS skills, to work through her Mapping Justice alumni activation grant project. Focused on the Great Migration, Juliana explored the historical movement of African Americans from the southern United States to the northern cities. Her project delved into the socioeconomic impacts of this migration, drawing connections to current issues such as vulnerability to COVID-19 and systemic injustices. You can explore Juliana’s ArcGIS Storymap on the Great Migration here.
Her exceptional work does not go unnoticed, earning her national recognition from the NCWIT (National Center for Women & Information Technology). This achievement allows her the opportunity to collaborate with 39 other women who share a commitment to bridging gaps in resources and elevating underresourced communities. Juliana future aspirations include using her knowledge of GIS to address environmental challenges, particularly in providing resources to water-scarce regions — which her Mapping Climate Justice capstone highlighted through data visualization.
Juliana’s journey from Mapping Justice participant to a nationally recognized advocate showcases the transformative power of education and community engagement. We draw inspiration from Juliana this Black History Month, who embodies a commitment to making the world a more equitable place while honoring her heritage.
