Armed with a camera and an idea, some Barrie North Collegiate Institute students created a news segment on LGBTQ issues back in May.
Last month, that segment took them halfway across the globe to represent Canada on the world stage.
Local students were recognized as one of the Panasonic’s Kid Witness News (KWN) finalists and represented Canada at the Global Summit in Tokyo, Japan on July 23.
In their segment, students tackled the topic of LGBTQ inclusivity highlighting statistics, a brief history, a self-made PSA, and reporting on school-related events.
Eight students participated in making the segment, however the two 17-year-old students who spearheaded the project, Memphis Merk and Jacob Allen, along with teacher Dave Emslie, made the trek to Japan to represent the group.
“We bounced around a lot of ideas,” says Merk. “We definitely wanted to do something that was very Canadian, and we wanted to do something more informative over storytelling. The LGBTQ community is one we talk about a lot now, especially our generation. We wanted to be able to inform about that community.”
The summit brought together students from 16 different countries and encouraged participants to collaborate with other student journalists and share ideas on how to develop future societies.
When asked what made the students decide to participate, Merk is very straightforward.
“Going to Japan,” laughs Merk. “We were also both really into filmmaking and video production.”
When they first found out they had won at the national level, the students were elated. However, when they found out later they were going to get to travel to Japan, the students were overcome with emotion.
“I cried,” says Merk. “It was kind of just like... shock. We didn’t really expect to win.”
“I said, ‘Oh cool,’ but that was just externally. Internally, I was probably more like Memphis,” laughs Allen.
Merk and Allen were put into groups when they first arrived, being put with students from Panama, Indonesia and the Czech Republic.
The topics of videos from other countries included environmental issues, self-esteem and technology.
“A lot of people were shocked when they saw ours. There were mixed reactions,” says Merk. “Some people just don’t talk about it so they didn’t know. It was a shock to them that we just talked about (LGBTQ issues) openly.”
Allen added that their video encouraged conversation between them and students from other countries whose homelands aren’t as accepting of LGBTQ people.
“Once we got to know (the representatives from the Czech Republic) a bit better and talked to them a bit more, they said that in their country, it’s very polarizing,” says Allen. “You don’t talk about it. (They said) some people are OK with it, some people aren’t... it’s about 50/50 where they are.”
Looking forward, both Merk and Allen want to pursue a career in video production, and the experience hasn’t swayed them.
“I already kind of knew I wanted a career in filmmaking,” says Merk. “I’m leaning toward directing and producing.”
“I’m very set on (a filmmaking career path) already,” says Allen. “I kind of liked documentaries before. This (experience) made me really know I want to make documentaries. Especially seeing some of the other countries’ entries. It was interesting.”
Kid Witness News is a worldwide video education program supported by Panasonic, with the aim of boosting creativity and communication skills and fostering teamwork through video production by children at the elementary and secondary school levels. Supported by Panasonic Canada, the KWN program provides participating elementary and secondary schools with state-of-the-art video equipment to create their own content from start to finish.
