DYN 2009 Showcase Speech
Good Morning. My name is Mosea Harris. I came to the University of Chicago Charter Schools in kindergarten, and I have been involved in the Digital Youth Network since sixth grade. Currently, I am the Executive Producer of iRemix Radio here at DYN. For business inquiries see me after the showcase. Traditionally, a school is an institution for educating children, usually in the areas of literacy, history, math, and science. Schools are important and vital to the well-being of our communities and our country. However, sometimes schools fail to satisfy the standards of the community or to extend beyond the standards of the community. Sometimes they only teach literacy, history, math and science. A school can be separate from a network or affiliated with one for a common purpose. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a network is “a group of people who exchange information, contacts, and experience for professional or social purposes.” A network can be formed within a school to unite the people in the school and to supplement the education. However, networks typically constitute a specific genre, skill set, or interest. Thus, those outside of that particular skill set or those unable to develop that particular interest on their own are excluded. As best as I can describe it, the Digital Youth Network is like a typical network with the exception that doesn’t adhere to only one specific skill set or genre or interest, but rather students are taught to develop a skill, form an interest, and experiment with different genres. The purpose of the Digital Youth Network is to help youth learn about and enhance different media skills and aspects of technology through themed afterschool clubs/ classes which are called pods and classes during the school day. Some of the pods at the Digital Youth Network are Digital Music, Digital Video, Radio Broadcasting, Digital Design, Video Gaming, and Spoken Word. At my school, DYN simply picks up where my school leaves off, intertwining within the curriculum, as well as extending it. For me personally, the Digital Youth Network has had a significant influence on the development of my media skills. Through various pods in
DYN, I have acquired proficiency in several media skills like pod casting, audio editing, filmmaking, video editing, video game creation and many more skills that I will definitely use in the near and far future. Even my first social network, Realm of New Thought, was inspired by DYN. Another great thing about DYN is the skills we learn here reach beyond the classroom; we learn how to use these skills in real-life, practical situations. Mentorship. In a way mentorship is a theme of the Digital Youth Network. At DYN, the teachers are called mentors. When describing the relationship between instructors and students at DYN, the term mentoring is unerring. However, the relationship between instructors and students is not the only mentoring relationship. There is also a relationship between student peers that is mentoring. We have built the type of community in which we can be comfortable helping each other. I like the way that DYN mixes media arts and liberal arts. At school, we face the inconvenient truths about our community like poverty and environment, but at DYN we use media and technology to remix those inconvenient truths. In education, you cannot be afraid to speak your mind. At DYN, I can attest that we certainly are not. I admire that. If our leaders do not speak their minds, we would all be in at a stand still. I have often wondered if there could be a perfect community what it would look like. In considering this, I look upon DYN as a favorable reference. The relationship between the adults and students, and the respect that we have for one another, should be amongst the community’s neighbors. Our value of education and resources, should be valued by the members of the community collectively. The enthusiasm of our student and teacher leaders should be the enthusiasm of our community leaders. I am by no means offering that DYN is perfect, but I am offering that it is professional in operation, brilliant in design, and a necessity for higher learning. Thank you. -Mosea Harris June 8, 2009