Gang prevention targets 5th and 6th grade students
A class of 30 county leaders has become professionals this
year
– professional video makers, that is. As its class project, this
year’s Leadership San Benito County class created a short video to
deter children from joining gangs.
Gang prevention targets 5th and 6th grade students
A class of 30 county leaders has become professionals this year – professional video makers, that is. As its class project, this year’s Leadership San Benito County class created a short video to deter children from joining gangs.
For the second year, the leadership class has focused on youth in the community.
“We talked about tourism and care for seniors,” said Suzanne St. John-Crane, the executive director of Community Media Access Partnership at Gavilan College in Gilroy and a member of the class. “But the one issue that really stuck out for the majority of the class was youth. They really are the future of San Benito County.”
When the class touted the idea of making a video project, St. John-Crane made clear from the start that all the classmates would need to be involved in the production, though she has a strong background in video work.
“The way I put it to the class was that I could certainly help with script writing part of the time and I could provide input, but the role I would take was in editing,” she said. “Everything else, they did.”
The 14-minute video, “You can’t get there … from here,” is geared toward upper-elementary students and has already been viewed in some schools. The video starts out with students at local elementary schools sharing their goals for the future – some want to be firefighters, some police officers, others doctors.
It is moderated by two San Benito High School students, Monica Hernandez and Bob Martin Del Campo, who advise kids on how to stay away from gangs and alternative activities in the county. The footage includes kids grooving at a hip-hop dance class, hanging out at the YMCA and participating in sports.
But the footage that moved many of the Leadership members included interviews with four inmates from San Benito County jail who were in jail for gang-related charges.
“We went to the jail and we interviewed four inmates,” said Paul Levy, one a classmate and one of the cameramen on the project. “We probably shot two hours of interviews. I took it home and played it at home and it got to me. I broke down.”
For many of the Leadership members, the project opened their eyes to the gang problem.
“When I go around town, I see guys with baggy pants and red belts and shoelaces now,” he said. “I don’t just look away.”
The group took away the lesson that gang prevention measures need to target younger students.
“One of the surprises was that we were told not to make it for high school or junior high schools,” St. John-Crane said. “The police and sheriff’s department told us we needed to go younger.”
As one of the inmates interviewed said, she had been involved with drugs and drinking at 11-years-old. The woman, who was interviewed while in county jail, has since been released and according to St. John-Crane has been taking steps to turn her life around.
Rich Brown, a resource officer for the Sheriff’s Department, is taking the video into local classrooms. Though details were not available, Brown told Levy he had at least one concrete example of the video making a difference for one student in one of the first classes that viewed it.
Brown did not return a call for comment by press time.
“We always say if we make one difference, it will be worth it,” Levy said. “And it sounds like we have.”
The class has had the support of many people while working on their project. The Sheriff’s department paid distribution costs for the video and the Hollister School District has arranged for local schools to view the video.
CMAP provided training to some of the classmates, such as Levy, through a training program open to any community member. Though the retired resident, who serves on the board of the Community Foundation and the newly formed Hollister Rally Committee, has worked in still photography, Levy had never dabbled in video before. He learned video shooting, sound production and editing.
The class formed committees for different parts of the project – some worked on scriptwriting, some in the field, some on publicity and marketing. The logging committee became a class joke – since logging video footage requires tediously watching hours of video and logging times of dialogue and action – but even that committee had plenty of volunteers.
In addition to the local support, the class has received regional accolades. St. John-Crane submitted the finished video in an awards category for professionals through the Alliance for Community Media. On Nov 3., the classmates gathered at San Jose City Hall to receive a Western Access Video Excellence Award for their work.
“I feel very strongly about recognizing Suzanne,” Levy said. “She put that video together. She took all our amateur work and edited it into a professional piece.”
“You Can’t Get There…From Here,” will be presented to the public with a reception and video screening at Ridgemark Golf and Country Club, 3800 Airline Hwy., Hollister, Nov. 17, 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. RSVP to 831-636-7629.
Melissa Flores can be reached at
mf*****@pi**********.com
.
