A few weeks ago I heard about an art and music contest that was part of an event called EdRev 2016. EdRev(education revolution) is all about improving education by exploring different ways of learning. The event has speakers and workshops, some taught by kids demonstrating something they discovered that helps improve learning and recall. There are a lot of educational tech companies demonstrating new products to improve teaching reading and math. It's held at AT&T park in San Francisco.
I decided to make a video for the contest. I wrote about 20 verses of the lyrics and kept eliminating ones that didn't work until I was down to about a dozen. I worked out the melody on the piano and recorded it and then added a drum beat, and drew storyboards for how I wanted to shoot each verse. I cut the verses down to 8 that worked together and fit what I wanted to say about not letting other people define who you are by things like race, gender or by things we don't do well. We all have something that we struggle with and sometimes that struggle is the only thing other people see. It can become a box that keeps us from getting to try things that we are good at.
The judges at EdRev called the video "powerful and uplifting". It won first place and I got a letter from one of the judges telling me each of the things that she liked about the video. I have the award sitting on my desk as a constant reminder to myself to try to look beyond superficial lables when I work with people, and to not allow other people's biases define who I am and what I can do.
Ms. Hughes put a link to the video on the community choir Facebook page. It is also here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky3tkezQTiE
As a happy ending to my time at PCS, the San Francisco Art Institute accepted my application for a summer film program, with a scholarship. After 5 1/2 years of being defined by grades and test scores, I am really looking forward to setting my own goals and defining success by what I can create and inspire.
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