Students’ Views on Seldom Seen, Rarely Reported News of our World
An ACS Athens / Newscoop Collaboration
About the project
Students today are faced with a barrage of information on the Internet. While most students are comfortable using the web as a primary resource, there is great concern for the reliability and validity of information found in its pages. Furthermore, the perspective of high school students is often lost or missing in media broadcasts. At ACS Athens, students are tackling today’s contemporary problems and current events through the creation of short documentaries and news pieces.
Through a partnership with Newscoop, founded at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, ACS Athens students are creating unbiased, engaging news pieces to be shared with young web users around the world. The intention of this partnership is to revolutionize the way students access and share news-related information. Students create short documentaries or 3-5 minute 'explainer' videos that highlight seldom seen and rarely reported issues and events in the news. These videos are created 100% from the ground up, with the students' researching, writing scripts and filming/editing video.
The students receive support and advice from Newscoop via the extensive network of professionals that support this endeavor. It is the goal of ACS Athens and Newscoop to encourage other schools to join this creative project.
The students at ACS have already created a short documentary film about the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, which debuted at the NESA Administrators' Conference in Athens in October 2009. (NESA: Near East South Asia Conference of International Schools). Through this presentation, and through contacts in the United States and abroad, we have seen the addition of many quality schools to the project.
About the April 19, 2010 Event
The April 19th, 2010 event is designed to showcase the students’ work on a project that offered them a great opportunity to explore and learn about a highly contested issue by researching, writing and producing a video documentary piece aimed at portraying a fair and unbiased view of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle. The event will include a screening of the 30-minute documentary to the ACS Athens' and wider communities. The screening will take place in the 500-seat theater at the Arts Center at ACS Athens. SKAI Anchor Sia Kossioni has been invited to moderate the discussion between the students and audience members (via an open mic arrangement) that will follow the screening.
The purpose of the event is not to judge the objectivity/fairness of the piece, but to stress the value of the dedicated and professional volunteer work the students did on a subject that most media have failed to portray without bias. Also, as this particular documentary is the first in a series, a strong point of discussion will certainly be issues surrounding the relationship between Media and Democracy, and the students' commitment to fostering democratic ideals through journalism.
The ACS Athens / SKAI Collaboration
SKAI media organization has been a steady and loyal supporter of education-related issues and initiatives throughout the years. ACS Athens, as the premier international school in Greece and a growing force in K-12 academia, has frequently been featured in SKAI Radio and TV programming, presenting its innovative programs and unique student-centered and holistic educational philosophy, designed to produce global citizens with ethos. SKAI-sponsored academic scholarships have given numerous Greek students the opportunity to benefit from the quality international education, rooted in American values and principles that ACS Athens provides, opening the doors for them at premier universities in the United States and Europe.
The ACS Athens / Newscoop Collaboration
Over the last year, Newscoop has partnered with ACS Athens to establish and refine a strong model of news research and production. ACS-Athens organized a Newscoop Club, and its students chose the very challenging issue of the Israeli-Palestinian Struggle for their first news report. They presented the documentary at a presentation at the October 2009 NESA Leadership Conference in Athens; afterwards, members of the audience commented that the film they had made was perhaps the most informative and balanced piece on the conflict they had ever seen. This was powerful confirmation of the students' commitment to the practice of unbiased and objective journalism. The ACS Athens students who collaborated with Newscoop on this project were thoughtful, serious, and creative beyond measure, with knowledge of the issues and deep concern for just outcomes. This extraordinary group of young people helped us all to see quickly that the Newscoop model of news production was indeed worthy of emulation.
About ACS Athens
The American Community Schools of Athens is a private, non-profit, Pre K-12 institution governed by a 15-member Board of trustees, which has served the children of the American, international and local communities in Athens for 64 years. Guided by a strong vision of high expectations rooted in solid values, the school’s policies and practices governing curriculum design, teaching methodologies, operating procedures and human interactions are shaped by the values implicit in its mission statement:
ACS Athens is a student-centered international school, embracing American educational philosophy, principles and values. Through excellence in teaching and diverse educational experiences, ACS Athens challenges all students to realize their unique potential: academically, intellectually, socially and ethically -- to thrive as responsible global citizens.
At the heart of the ACS Athens enterprise are our students. Admitted on the basis of a selective admission process, the school’s 810 students represent more than 60 countries from six continents. They form a rich multi-cultural mosaic, which positively informs the American values and principles upon which the school is founded, and which will serve them well for their role as global citizens of the 21st century.
About Newscoop
Founded at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Newscoop is creating an educational online news laboratory that empowers young people around the world as responsible consumers and producers of news in this age of the Internet. Partnering with a network of international schools and colleges, Newscoop offers users quick, succinct and clear video explanations of news events and public issues. As students create brief “explainer” pieces, mini-documentaries, and exciting interviews with relevant public figures, they explore the world’s events and issues. Finally, they inform each other. The result will be a trusted news source for young people around the globe.
The Project Advisory Team:
For ACS Athens
- Brian Kelly, Academy Principal
- John Papadakis, Director of Communications & Technology
- Eli Pupovac, Academy Social Studies Teacher
For Newscoop
- Camilla Warrender, Founder, Executive Editor
For more information please contact John Papadakis at: acs@acs.gr, 210-6393200 x263
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