‘Stepping Up’ Youth Media Creators Shine at KQED's Silicon Valley Desk

[media-credit name="Alain McLaughlin" align="alignnone" width="690"][/media-credit]

Friends, family, and community members filled our Silicon Valley Bureau on January 17 to help celebrate the work of seven student media makers from our Stepping Up Youth Media Challenge.

The students were chosen from a number of local and national submissions to last fall’s challenge in which we asked students to share a story about how they’ve ‘stepped up’ to take action on an issue they’re passionate about.

Bureau Chief and Senior Editor Tonya Mosley offered opening remarks, encouraging the youth media makers to continue telling their stories and the stories of their communities.

Photo credit: Alain McLaughlin

In panels and readings, the students shared how their videos and written pieces captured just a snapshot of the work they’re doing, and told us more about their hopes for the year ahead.

Areeta Wong and Judy Ng from San Mateo High School shared their inspiration for Superposition, a hack-a-thon created for girls to combat the large gender disparity in the tech industry. At the showcase, they were able to connect with the parent of another student who works in the tech industry about attending their upcoming event.

Gursimran Singh Panesar from Mills High School raised money to help rebuild the playground at The Anova Center for Education in Santa Rosa after it was destroyed by the Northern California fires last fall. So far he has raised over $3,000 for the school.

To view the entire collection of student selections, check out this curated list from The Lowdown.