YouthMADE stands for Youth Making, Activism, Art, and Design in Education, representing a broad spectrum of youth-led creativity and innovation. Students at Ponus Ridge STEAM Academy in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Richland Two Institute of Innovation in Columbia, South Carolina, shared their projects on sustainable street lights and animation at the YouthMADE Showcase—a virtual exhibition that highlighted the voices and projects from students at districts within the League of Innovative Schools—at Digital Promise’s League of Innovative Schools convening.
Supported by their teacher Colleen Brosnan, sixth grade students Alfredo, Anusha, Autumn, Dorian, Dylon, Fatima, Isabella, Jacob, James, Kaleb, Nela, Noor, and Viti created a prototype for a streetlight that runs on clean energy.
“The issue we are trying to address is that burning fossil fuel pollutes the air. Our hydro/solar-powered street light will add power into the electrical grid. It is clean energy that will have less of an impact on the environment because it doesn’t release carbon dioxide, which traps heat,” Viti said.
Students demonstrate their solar-powered streetlight.
They’re hoping to build upon the prototype to be more sensitive to nocturnal animals by adding sensors that detect when cars are approaching the light. This would help reduce light pollution that disturbs nocturnal animals’ behavior.
While their prototype is currently constructed from classroom materials, they are hoping to create a functional prototype in the future. “We need more guidance about how to create a functional prototype where all three components work and how they all connect to make energy.”
Supported by their teacher Dipali Vaughan, high school seniors Alex and Everlast created a short animated film as part of the South Carolina Young Filmmakers Project.
“[Our film is about] a young adult named Jay and his journey to become a successful musician while dealing with the absence of his father. The short film follows Jay, starting playing somberly in his room and continues as he travels with his bandmates to their most prominent performance. Jay must come to terms with his father’s absence, find purpose as his own guitarist, and move forward without dwelling on what he lost,” said Alex.
As part of the competition, Alex and Everlast had to use a guitar pick as a prop in the film, which helped them develop the film’s story. “Picking up his father’s guitar pick transports [Jay] to a highly stylized area of his imagination where he can play guitar to his heart’s content,” Alex explained.
One of the rough sketches shared in the students’ slide presentation.
Alex and Everlast will know the results of the competition in June, but shared reflections on what they’ve learned up to this point. “So far, we have learned different aspects of storyboarding, and different ways to shorten/transform/transfigure ideas for a story in order to meet a deadline.” Everlast said. Alex added: “We have learned, and are continuing to learn, time management and how much commitment it takes to stick with a project. We also learned how to make compromises and that not everything is bound to go as you originally intend it to.”
