A new program at the Syracuse Boys and Girls Club is educating kids on the opportunities that are in front of them with the phones in their back pocket.
Ana Gil is using her photography and video production platform to assist youth in a media program called Nurturing Opportunities for Creativity and Production (NO CAP).
“We need to introduce kids and give them something else to do with their phones,” said Gil, the program’s creative director.
This 12-week pilot program is targeting minority youth as young as elementary school. Gil said there are many opportunities out there and she wants the students to not only know about them but to be ready for them.
“They need to be exposed to the different types of technologies so they can start thinking about how else they can be using this technology to apply in their lives and potentially to work,” Gil said.
With projects like Micron coming to Central New York, Gil said she wants these students to feel like they can have a seat at the table.
“We don’t get exposed to this type of opportunity,” Gil said. “So if they know that it’s out there and they start thinking about, oh my gosh, I can do this with a phone, what else can I do? Then they realize the phone is running out of memory so they start thinking about what else can I use? Then they start exploring that, oh maybe I will need a camera, OK what kind of camera, what lens and then they start thinking and this is the exploration in technology.”
The students are using their smartphones to create a play and a skit that they will piece together and share with their friends and family at the end of the program.
“Your phone in your pocket is such a powerful tool,” said Fulgens Henry, the video producer for the NO CAP Media Program. “You can record your video. You can edit your video. You can add audio. Yhere’s so much you can do and we’re teaching them all of that here, right? But starting with content planning and how to deliver their message and they’re having a good time with that.”
Henry said students are very engaged in learning how much they can do with their phones.
“I really was grateful that I got put in this program because I wouldn’t know all the things I could do with my camera and I would take less pictures without this. I could have more memories and it’s just really nice,” said Jahsiah Taylor, a student in the NO CAP Media Program.
Gil shared that other community organizations have reached out to them with the hopes of sharing this knowledge with their students.
