Participation Type
Performance
Presentation #1 Title
Girls’ Media Education in West Virginia: Critical Media Literacy and Production
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
In mainstream media, there are many negative representations of both women and girls as well of the Appalachian region. Young people are active consumers of visual media, and they have agency in how they choose to engage with it and in using it to tell their own stories. High Rocks Educational Corporation is a non-profit organization with a mission “to educate, empower, and inspire” young women in West Virginia. Through various programs such as summer camps, after-school tutoring, and college visits, this place-based organization provides intergenerational and peer-oriented leadership and mentorship opportunities in its three-county service area (Greenbrier, Nicholas, and Pocahontas). Camp Steele, a 2-week summer camp for high school girls, is organized around different intensive courses, including a media track, that campers can major and minor in. The course on media literacy and media production focuses on facilitating girls’ exploration, construction, and expression of their voices and self-representations. The curriculum focuses on both developing critical thinking skills for reading media productions and providing hands-on media production training for producing their own media content. This collaborative multimedia presentation will include an introductory overview of the High Rocks media education program for high school girls, a screening of selected student-produced video projects, and a panel discussion with the teachers and filmmakers.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Tammy Clemons is a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky where she is researching the cultural productions of young women visual media makers in Central Appalachia and how they envision, construct, and act upon possibilities for young people in the region. In summer 2014, she volunteered as an Assistant Media Teacher for Camp Steele at High Rocks Educational Corporation in West Virginia, and in summer 2015, she served as the lead Media Teacher as a staff member for the same program.
Shelby Mack is the Community Outreach Coordinator at High Rocks Educational Corporation in Hillsboro, West Virginia. She previously worked as a summer intern and then as an AmeriCorps volunteer at High Rocks, and she served as the Assistant Media Teacher for Camp Steele in summer 2015.
Nicole Hall is a sophomore at Richwood High School in Richwood, West Virginia. She has been a High Rocks participant for four years.
Grace Harbert is a freshman at Greenbrier East High School in Lewisburg, West Virginia. She has been a High Rocks participant for two years.
Katz Zuckett is a high school senior from Charleston, West Virginia. She has been a High Rocks participant for three years, and this is her second time in the media major.
Girls’ Media Education in West Virginia: Critical Media Literacy and Production
In mainstream media, there are many negative representations of both women and girls as well of the Appalachian region. Young people are active consumers of visual media, and they have agency in how they choose to engage with it and in using it to tell their own stories. High Rocks Educational Corporation is a non-profit organization with a mission “to educate, empower, and inspire” young women in West Virginia. Through various programs such as summer camps, after-school tutoring, and college visits, this place-based organization provides intergenerational and peer-oriented leadership and mentorship opportunities in its three-county service area (Greenbrier, Nicholas, and Pocahontas). Camp Steele, a 2-week summer camp for high school girls, is organized around different intensive courses, including a media track, that campers can major and minor in. The course on media literacy and media production focuses on facilitating girls’ exploration, construction, and expression of their voices and self-representations. The curriculum focuses on both developing critical thinking skills for reading media productions and providing hands-on media production training for producing their own media content. This collaborative multimedia presentation will include an introductory overview of the High Rocks media education program for high school girls, a screening of selected student-produced video projects, and a panel discussion with the teachers and filmmakers.
