[Imc-radio] WRFU Barn raising radio story and thanks!

[Kranich, Kimberlie]

Dear All,

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The barn raising weekend was a defining moment in the lives of my two Youth
Media Workshop (YMW) middle school students, Amaris and Lalaina, who
participated by talking about their oral history radio project at a workshop
and producing and editing a five minute radio piece for WRFU's broadcast
debut, which was also their radio debut. 

They received a lot of supportive attention from the adults who attended
this weekend.  Indeed, it was because they were asked to produce a segment
on issues affecting youth from their perspective as youth, that they ended
up on the air tonight.  Normally, the students wouldn't learn digital
editing until early next year when their oral histories interviews are all
done, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The barn raising
accelerated their learning! The students and I brainstormed the topics they
wanted to talk about:  violence, school, sex and drugs, I gave them their
flash card recorder and mics, left the room, and told them to come get me
when they were done talking.  The result was 20 minutes of them discussing
their point of view on these topics.  I showed them how to edit using Sound
Forge and they edited their 20-minute piece down to a five-minute segment
and that's what they aired tonight.  

Their live radio debut was baptism by fire. The booth was noisy and crowded
with interested and helpful people. Lalaina was given a crash course in
running the board and did just fine.  At one point, during the live portion
of their segment, one of the mics didn't seem to be working and Amaris had
to move to the other side of the broadcast console and share a seat with
Lalaina.  After their segment was over, Lalaina's brother called to say he
was listening to her and that she sounded good.  Amaris survived her
nervousness. 

In addition to the media and public speaking skills gained this weekend,
Amaris and Lalaina also learned:  they don't care for tofu but they tried
it, it's difficult to eat a lime whole, vegan cookies are good.  They liked
climbing the ladder to the roof for a lesson on tower construction. They
noticed the drawings of naked women on the walls and dubbed that area the
"Naked Hallway."

Amaris and Lalaina are comfortable with the UCIMC space, the people and the
radio station. I'm sure they feel that this public resource is "theirs,"
too. The whole experience has given me new ideas for the Youth Media
Workshop and possible connections between WILL, Innovative Ed., the U of I
and WRFU.  As we formulate those ideas, we'll be in touch.

Thank you for all your hard work and for inviting us! We are inspired.

I have photos of the students in the radio studio if UCIMC or Prometheus
would like them for your archives. Just let me know and I'll put them on a
CD.

Muchas gracias,
Kim