Earth Day Challenge
Sponsors
Filming Sustainably Since 2009
Students:
What are you doing this summer? If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, are a rising ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth-grader, and have an interest in any of these topics ...
- Food
- Film
- Saving our planet
... you owe it to yourself to check out the Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience. If you care about all three subjects, you definitely won’t want to miss it! To find out more, see the info below and apply today.
Educators and Parents:
The Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience gives young people the opportunity to channel their concern for the environment into a learning experience that combines 21st century skills with self-expression.
Students will interact with the people who grow and prepare our food, gaining insights into how the choices we make as consumers affect not only our own health, but the health of the planet. While they discover how delicious and satisfying healthy choices can be, they’ll also learn technology, communication, and creativity skills by using cutting-edge digital and mobile technologies to make short films.
Teachers, your recommendations help to determine who will participate, so find out more below, and tell your students!
About the Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience
This year, the Mobile Learning Institute Earth Day Challenge adds a new initiative to its programs: the Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience. During half-day sessions spanning two weeks in July, fifty Northern California students will learn firsthand about sustainable food production and consumption through visits to producers and restaurateurs, such as those at San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Marketplace. Then, with the guidance of MLI staff, participants will create short-form video presentations that share their views on the theme of sustainable food with the world. Nokia and the Pearson Foundation provide all equipment, and participation is free for students accepted into the program.
What’s more, all eligible student films will automatically be entered into the second-annual MLI Earth Day Challenge Filmmaking Contest.
DID YOU KNOW ?
If you’re like most Americans, you probably live about sixty miles from an apple orchard, yet the apple you eat from the grocery store will typically have traveled 1,726 miles from the orchard to your house. That’s farther than the distance from San Francisco to Vancouver, Canada! Using so much energy for unnecessary transport is hard on the environment; and besides, local apples aren’t just better for the planet – they taste better, they’re better for you, and they support your local economy.
What to Expect
The Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience is offered over a two-week session this summer, beginning July 20, 2009, and concluding July 31, 2009. Participants can take part in either morning or afternoon sessions (see Schedule for details). A mix of guest appearances, discussion, Internet research, field trips, food preparation demonstrations, interaction with market merchants, and hands-on learning experiences provides the basis for student filmmaking.
The program’s mobile computer lab (provided by the Mobile Learning Institute) is composed of laptops with Wi-Fi Internet connection, enabling participants to conduct web research and facilitating the teaching of digital editing techniques used to assemble the various student products. Participants also have access to the latest Nokia mobile devices to capture the media assets necessary to create the outcome of the course: a variety of student films ranging from public service announcements and how-to videos to interviews and short-form documentaries.
A focal point for the program is events at the historic Ferry Building of San Francisco, which allows for immediate interaction with the merchants operating within the retail space and the farmers/producers who convene during farmers market days. In addition, members of the larger local sustainable food production and distribution community will provide advice, materials, guest instructors, field-trip destinations, and interview and documentary subjects for the student films.
Location
With the exception of field trip days, all class sessions will be held in the Food Is Power mobile computer lab set up at the Pearson Education business offices, 1301 Sansome Street, near the transportation hub of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza.
Schedule
The Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience takes place over two weeks, from July 20 to July 25 and July 27 to July 31, with students typically meeting in three-hour morning or afternoon sessions. Applicants must agree to attend all sessions for which they enroll: click here to download a PDF with the detailed schedule.
DID YOU KNOW ?
The sales of Reese’s Pieces increased by 65% following the product’s appearance as E.T.’s favorite candy in the movie “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.” Imagine the effect a film promoting sustainable agriculture and its consumption might have.
Eligibility
The Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience is open to application for any Bay Area student who will be in ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth grade during the 2009–2010 school year. Applicants must be available to attend all sessions during the two-week course, and must be able to secure their own transportation.
Important Dates
- The deadline for application is June 5, 2009.
- Students will be notified of acceptance no later than June 20, 2009.
- The Food Is Power MLI Summer Film Experience will take place July 20–25 and July 27–31 (see Schedule above).
Application
To apply, each prospective participant must complete the Application Form in full, including parent or guardian’s signature and a short recommendation from a teacher. Download a PDF of the Application Form.
Contact
Need more information? Contact Food Is Power at earthdaychallenge@pearsonfoundation.org.
