Be kind. Be respectful. Be human.
Written by Maddie Brim
25 letters, six words, one message.
Like any other teenager, I was nervous to immerse myself and connect with other teens. I had no idea that these people would soon turn into my family. A week later, I couldn’t have imagined a better experience. I had no idea that connecting with these people would greatly impact my experience in such a positive way. I came into this program expecting to learn about social media, film, but I learned so much more than that.
Through our sessions about the good and bad aspects of differing Social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter, we really immersed ourselves in the question, “What can we do using Social media platforms to share an important message?” Throughout these discussions we really believed that we could emphasize the important message of Kavod (respect), and Chesed (kindness) through a true story about cyber bullying.
We worked in teams to generate ideas for the short film we would soon create together. By working in groups, we learned how others opinions can really make a difference, and can have a positive benefit towards our overall message. We immersed ourselves in the aspects of film making, and were all able to learn about these different parts of creating a film. I loved being able to be educated on the aspects of movies, that you wouldn’t be able to learn in a classroom.
This program made it possible to learn about the applied arts of photography, film making, different applied arts, and much more in just a few days. I’m very thankful that I went through with my decision to join this program, and I believe that it will continue to grow because of the impact it had on me, and the other teens in this program.
Maddie is a 15 year old freshman at Stevenson High School. She’s a Camp Chi camper and Stevenson HS JSC Club Participant. She is also involved with USY at Congregation Beth Judea and plays softball on her school’s team.
StudioChi is generously sponsored by Springboard, a community initiative created with the support of JUF/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, the Jim Joseph Foundation, The Crown Family and other local funders.