SRL Station Success: November 2017
SRL connected with KQED recently at NCSS – a conference for social studies teachers
SRL’s partnership with KQED has yielded incredible experiences for SRL students that are rooted in using the station’s wide-reaching platforms to create unique opportunities for student voice. From featuring student-produced pieces in their first-rate resources, to tackling tough issues such as teen homelessness in KQED’s original YouTube series, “Above the Noise,” the station is constantly innovating new ways to shine a light on youth perspectives. Executive producer Annelise Wunderlich and Ariana Proehl, KQED’s Youth Media Manager, shared with us how working with SRL furthers their mission.
When did your station first become a part of SRL?
KQED has partnered with SRL for a few years now, starting when we published a weekly student discussion blog called Do Now that often featured SRL videos. Since then, we’ve collaborated to create a video for our new YouTube series Above the Noise, featuring the reporting of an SRL student about teen homelessness. We’ve also regularly published SRL videos on our news explainer blog, The Lowdown. In the past year, KQED producers have on three occasions visited SRL sites in the Bay Area to mentor students with their projects. This is a great opportunity for us to interact with emerging media makers and to build connections with teachers – a win-win for all involved!
How has the Student Reporting Labs program benefited the station?
Youth perspectives are critical to the work we do at KQED, and the Education department here strives to give teachers and students the tools they need to amplify youth voices with media. SRL has an incredible curriculum and support system that helps teachers and students to create the kind of high quality student journalism that serves as a model and inspiration for our community. Together, we hope to pass on the values of public media to the next generation, and learn about what matters to them.
Why is it important to help build the next generation of public media producers and participants?
At a time when the term “fake news” is thrown around so easily, we need the next generation to not only know about and understand the value of public media, but to take ownership of their right as citizens to be informed about the issues that affect their lives. Learning how public media is produced, and then getting to report and make media themselves, is such an impactful way to build that connection and cultivate that value. Whether or not students go into journalism as a career, the skills they learn in SRL are helping ensure the next generation is smart, discerning, and proactive.
If we all had limitless resources, how could we make the Student Reporting Labs program in your community even stronger?
Of course it would be great to see SRL and its curriculum in every Bay Area school! And with those existing SRL sites, it would be great to see regular cross-collaborations between schools, or mini summits at different points in the school year or over the summer where all SRL students come together and work on a special project.