Using Video to Educate and Engage

The tools we use for interaction, engagement, and education change from generation to generation. From textbooks to online learning, the way we present and consume information is constantly in flux. Today’s youth, who excel in digital literacy, may understand this better than anyone. Growing up with smart devices in hand, our youngest generations are positioned to reinvent society’s relationship with the virtual. There is evidence of this when we look at the transformation of video media from a purely creative outlet into a resource to inform and educate the public.

Our New Voices youth exemplify this trend, choosing to use video as a platform to share what they have learned in the Rose Foundation’s environmental justice leadership program. Our students’ work exemplifies the creative ways we can use technology to educate and engage younger generations.

Every year, our Summer Climate Justice Leadership Academy hosts a Community Summit. This is an opportunity for our New Voices students to present what they learned in the summer program and how it connects to their community. For our 2021 Community Summit, New Voices student Siurave used her animation and editing skills to produce an informational film on home gardens.

In 2021, we introduced the Youth Air Quality Task Force to our New Voices program. Over six weeks, New Voices students in the Youth Air Quality Task Force created media projects focused on air quality, associated health risks, and utility advocacy. The task force offered students an opportunity to discover the aspects of clean-air advocacy that are most important to them, and to educate and engage their communities in this work. Watch the video below to see the creative ways our students used video to educate their community.