Riding in cars comes with responsibilities, too - And more on what YMG teens are learning this fall
By Brie Zeltner
Youthcast Media Group®
More than half of teens think that it’s really important to speak up as a passenger when they feel their driver is being unsafe. But more than one third of those teens also say they don’t know what to say when they’re in that situation.
Those are just a couple of the fascinating things Youthcast Media Group® student journalists in our Fall writing boot camp learned when they surveyed more than 130 of their peers across the country about passenger safety and empowerment.
The student journalists, who were all new to journalism and wrote news briefs for our National Road Safety Foundation-sponsored class, said they learned a lot by interviewing their peers, youth involved in passenger safety efforts across the country and Candace Lightner, a driving safety activist and founder of MADD.
“It has made me more confident about speaking up, even if it’s uncool,” one student said in our post-class survey, which allow us to gather anonymous feedback about our programs.
Another said she’d never heard the term “passenger empowerment” before the class, but now could “tell you so much.”
Their news briefs will be tied together into at least two news stories that we aim to get published ahead of National Passenger Safety Week in January. Our college interns will also be starting work soon on data-heavy graphics that can be paired with the stories or used by themselves on social media to promote the work - and safe driving!
Our journalism boot camps give students a first taste of news writing and have had great reviews. In this most recent group, 100% of students said they were satisfied with the program and all said they would recommend the class to a peer. Most of the students felt like they wanted and needed more time with us, though, so based on their feedback, we’re considering adding a class, bringing it up to 8 sessions instead of seven. (Participants get $150 stipends if they successfully complete the boot camp.)
Be on the lookout for their stories this winter!
In other news, we continue to work with students at Northern Virginia-based Annandale High School and DC’s Bard High School Early College on both social media posts and reported stories. We’ll share more about the fruits of those collaborations in our winter edition.
Finally, in our fall workshop, which began in early October, 12 more experienced student journalists are tackling the pressing issue of gun violence prevention in their communities. They’ll be speaking with experts in youth engagement around the problem, and interviewing their peers and others in their communities about what can be done to address it. The students come from Texas, Virginia, Florida, Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. Look for their stories this winter, too!
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