Ajani Semple getting to work on the article.
For their first article, the eighth grade community journalists went out into their neighborhood on what can be called the “Main Street of Laurelton”, Merrick Boulevard. Camera crew, journalists and all, on November 2nd, a week before the Presidential election results, they embarked on a mission to interview storeowners, workers, and pedestrians alike on who their vote was going to support Thursday–Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
Not coming as much of a surprise, most of the interviewees were casting their ballots in Hillary’s favor. Only one of them who said otherwise reported a third-party candidate. The students were surprised at the election results, and their surprise and indignation sparked a flurry of writing. They learned that in some forms of journalism, explicit opinion-stating was okay–and they set to writing op ed pieces about their reactions to finding out that Donald Trump had won the election.
Ajani Semple and Ajeya Watson produced a strong article to be featured on the Laurelton website (laurelton.nyc) and the field work, research, and personal connections they had to the subject matter proved to be a learning experience for all that I was proud to facilitate.
-Ms. Semple
DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice aims to bridge the digital divide by combining media literacy and cultural awareness along with a vast understanding of technology to encourage young women in under served communities to pursue careers in computer science and new media.
