Tune in all week for stories co-produced by Bay Area high school students on KQED Public Television, KQED Public Radio and KQED digital platforms.
San Francisco, CA, April 24, 2023 – Starting today, Bay Area high school students take the mic on KQED Public Radio, Public Television and KQED digital platforms for the 6th annual KQED Youth Takeover. Since it launched in 2018, Youth Takeover has become a KQED audience favorite that creates intergenerational connections between local youth and the adults in their communities. Stories developed by students in collaboration with KQED journalists, producers and staff will be featured on programs such as Perspectives, Forum, Above the Noise, KQED Live and Bay Curious, where the teens will talk about the issues that matter most to them. The weeklong Youth Takeover celebration culminates on stage as part of KQED Fest, a free block party and open house at KQED’s San Francisco headquarters on Saturday, April 29. As part of the all-day celebration, members of the Youth Advisory Board will present a program at 4pm about the activity gap and how unequal access to extracurricular activities affects child development.
“KQED Youth Takeover is an important time for us and our audiences to remind ourselves how valuable young people’s voices, perspectives and experiences are in strengthening our communities,” says Chief Content Officer Holly Kernan. “We demonstrate this when we dedicate space on KQED’s broadcast and digital platforms to elevate their stories, and we are collectively better as a result of their ideas and leadership. We thank them for their vulnerability, courage and vision.”
This year, KQED Youth Takeover program staff worked with 16 classrooms in schools across all 9 Bay Area counties to bring media making and media literacy to about 400 students. These teens received on-site coaching from Youth Media Team Program Manager Amanda Vigil and Media Specialist Emiliano Villa. They recorded their stories in KQED’s studios while gaining exposure to different professions within media through career panels featuring a wide range of KQED staff.
The field trip to KQED headquarters was an “amazing experience” according to Youngjun, a student at Washington High School in San Francisco, CA, and the “most memorable” of his high school career. He was the first in his group to start recording his piece, “which made me very nervous because I am in such a professional setting for doing something like this,” he said. “But the sound engineers and our guide made everything go very smoothly and I was able to overcome my anxiety very quickly and started to enjoy the process.”
Experience all the students’ stories on the KQED.org homepage and the Youth Takeover showcase.