SRL announces students for its inaugural Health Video Fellowship
Arlington, Va.––PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs (SRL) has selected three outstanding student journalists for its inaugural Health Video Fellowship this fall. The application is still open for winter and spring candidates.
Students selected for the inaugural fall fellowship are Andrea Salazar Lopez, of Beaverton Academy of Science and Engineering in Oregon, Havilynn Rose Scruggs, a recent graduate of Caesar Rodney High School in Delaware, and Liam Wiig of Omaha North High School in Nebraska.
“This fellowship represents a new direction for the program––into explainer videos that reveal the science behind the news,” says SRL founder Leah Clapman, PBS NewsHour’s managing editor of education. More than half a billion viewers watch educational videos on YouTube every day, and channels like VSauce, PhysicsGirl, Vox, and Kurzgesagt have pioneered an innovative way to inform young viewers.
During the three-month fellowship, students will pitch, write, produce, and edit a short explainer video on important health or biomedical science topic for local and national digital platforms.
Students will combine published research, video interviews with experts, explanatory graphics, and archival footage to create rich, compelling, and clear videos explaining concepts ranging from sports medicine and Covid-19 to mental health. Students will be mentored by fellowship coordinator and SRL Youth Media Producer, Eli Kintisch, who has extensive experience creating science videos for major explainer channels on YouTube such as Vox News.
The application is open for additional three-month fellowships in the winter and spring. The next application deadline is October 15. The fellowship is open to SRL students and recent alumni. Supported by the National Institutes for Health (NIH), the project will include a research component to evaluate how the fellowship and explainer impact the participants’ learning.
SRL has served more than 20,000 students with curriculum focusing on newsgathering, critical thinking, interviewing skills, and videography. Read more about the program below.
About SRL
Now in over 160 middle and high schools, Student Reporting Labs (SRL) is a national youth journalism program and public media initiative that trains teenagers across the country to produce stories that highlight the achievements, challenges, and reality of today’s youth. SRL creates transformative educational experiences through video journalism that inspires students to find their voice and engage in their communities. Since 2009, SRL youth media producers have helped students place over 100 video news reports on PBS NewsHour’s nightly broadcast and more on local media outlets. Visit www.studentreportinglabs.org to learn more.
About PBS NewsHour
For more than 40 years, millions of Americans and citizens of the world have turned to the PBS NewsHour for the solid, reliable reporting that has made it one of the most trusted news programs on television. PBS NewsHour is a production of NewsHour Productions LLC, a wholly-owned non-profit subsidiary of WETA Washington, DC, in association with WNET in New York. More information on PBS NewsHour is available at www.pbs.org/newshour. On social media, visit PBS NewsHour on Facebook or follow NewsHour on Twitter.
About NIH
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the United States government agency responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late 1880s and is now part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Learn more at https://nih.gov.