SAN ANTONIO – Here at KSAT, we have been keeping you up to date with what’s happening with the BexarFest program.
BexarFest is an ongoing collaboration between high school students and nonprofits in Bexar County.
The event gives students enrolled in classes like video, photography, and graphic design a chance to put together media materials for local nonprofits to use.
Back in September, KSAT announced the teams of high schools and nonprofits that would be working together this school year.
This month, we caught up with one of those teams, the digital communications students at SAISD’s Advanced Learning Academy and the nonprofit Girls on the Run Bexar County.
“They’ve gone to practices for Girls on the Run, they’ve taken photographs, and they have done interviews, and they’ve also attended the 5k,” said Ryan Maney, CTE, design teacher at the Advanced Learning Academy. “Now, they’re in the process of ‘how do we take all of that and then compose it into really effective pamphlets, commercials?’”
Girls on the Run is a nonprofit organization that offers after-school programs for girls in 3rd through 5th grade and also for girls in 6th through 8th grade. These programs teach lessons that go beyond running, such as confidence and the importance of physical and emotional health.
“Getting to hear that we’re working with Girls on the Run, I was really excited about it because I’ve run like out of school, so I thought it was super inspiring what they do,” said Elizabeth Krist, an Advanced Learning Academy Junior.
Maney said the students' work for the nonprofit gives them some “real world” work experience, like working on pamphlets and videos.
“I’m working on making a pamphlet, which is basically an overview of what goes on,” said Leah Sparks, Advanced Learning Academy Junior. “One of our goals is to hand it (the pamphlets) out to young girls at our school to help encourage them to join.”
Minka Misangyi, Executive Director of Girls on the Run Bexar County, said this group of students is actually working on something different for the nonprofit.
“A lot of the times, the marketing material we do have, we’ll target the teachers or the parents or the adults, but (the high school students) are looking at it from the kid’s perspective to see why you should join?” said Misangyi. “And, we’ve never had that before. So, I’m really excited to see what they come up with.”
The students will submit their work soon and say they are excited to share it.
“Like thinking about how other people will watch the video and then learn about, like, this nonprofit (Girls on the Run) in our community, and I think it’ll bring a lot of people’s attention to it,” said Krist.
The work these students at Advanced Learning Academy did for Girls on the Run will be judged next month, along with the work of dozens of other student-nonprofit teams throughout Bexar County.
BexarFest awards night is scheduled for April 2.
