“Open the Door”: How An Afterschool Program is Changing Teens - And Neighborhoods
Produced by Ben Wolff at 8:06 am on September 2, 2010 in Civic Engagement, Safety, Social Media, StudentSpeak • Leave a comment
StudentSpeak Webisode 11/ View more Spotlight videos
In this StudentSpeak webisode, Spotlight talks with Shaondell, 17, a participant in the YOUmedia aftershool program at Harold Washington Library in Chicago.
Shaondell created a short video, “The Myriad,” about violence in his community as part of YOUMedia’s collaboration with the Cure Violence project (learn more about the collaboration and the students’ work here).
“YOUmedia is a great space to get out your ideas and be creative,” said Shaondell who comes to the program from Chicago’s Corliss/Roseland neighborhood. “I wouldn’t be the person who I am today without YOUmedia. I never would have learned to make videos or play the piano, or do these great things that I’m doing now. YOUmedia really opened the door. And I think that’s really vital to curing violence.
“People are running into closed doors all the time. All they see is gang violence and running the streets and guns and drugs and all of that. But if you open the door for them and show them where they can be better people, where they can do better things to better themselves, I believe that pretty much helps the problem.”
Hear more from Shaondell and watch his video above.
StudentSpeak, a video series produced by Spotlight, goes behind the scenes to show how teens use digital media in their daily lives. View previous webisodes here.
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