"Be the difference. Speak up!"
That's one of the calls-to-action developed by Meyzeek Middle School students in collaboration with artists and the IDEAS xLab team as part of
Our Emotional Wellbeing
. The students who are members of the after-school clubs - Justice League and Bates Memorial Kingdom Academy - wanted to focus on bullying in all of its forms. They spent the past year working on the creation of an iMovie called "It's All Bullying: A-War-On-Us."
COVID-19 hit right before filming of the movie was completed. But that didn't stop the students from continuing to collaborate virtually. Zaxton Rothberg (in the center of the photo above) who filmed the movie has been working virtually with Kyle Gordon (a Louisville-based videographer) to edit the existing footage. They've collaborated with Zaxton's peers to work through scripting and other challenges. One hurdle that we had to tackle together - footage of the final scene didn't exist.
On Friday in the rain, a line of cars pulled up in front of Meyzeek on Jackson St. with students, one-by-one, donning a t-shirt and mask, and standing a safe physical distance away from the camera on the sidewalk, filmed the culminating scene of the iMovie. We also dropped off t-shirts - the central focus of the final scene - to more students Friday and Saturday, in the hopes of including as many people as possible.
Was it what the students originally envisioned? No. But, for most of us, adaptive has been the name of the game. And we all evolved - encountering new challenges, and making great new memories together.
We can't wait to share the full iMovie with you through a virtual screening and discussion as the students demonstrate what they've created, and share what they've learned. So - stay tuned for Our Emotional Wellbeing information and updates in the coming weeks!
Our team and board could not be more grateful for the support of our Champions of Hope.
We know your Inboxes are overflowing, and requests keep coming in
. We appreciate you. We see you. And, your investment in us continues to make an impact!
With gratitude,
Josh Miller
Photo: Josh Miller
(Left)
, Zaxton Rothberg
(Center)
, and Chris Radtke (Right) after the filming of footage for the final iMovie scene. Photo by Kelly Rothberg.
