Lights, camera, action! Students star in their own YouTube Videos

If YouTube can launch the music career of pop sensation, Justin Beiber, why not use it to get disadvantaged students into college? That was thinking behind the Center for School Change’s idea for its Dual Credit opportunities video project.

Taking cues from students’ insatiable appetite social media, the Center for School Change is using the wildly popular video-sharing site to get the message out about Dual Credit opportunities aimed at reaching low-income and first generation families and students of color by creating a series of YouTube videos. A new accessible center for learning for many adults, teens and children, the YouTube initiative is made possible with a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education using federal funding, from the U.S. Department of Education Voluntary Public School Choice Project.

The Center for School Change partnered with MIGIZI Communications, Inc., Neighborhood House, High School for Recording Arts (HSRA) and PACER to produce a total of 14 YouTube videos for community and school use and feature testimonials from students like Gaozong Vang, who is featured in one of the videos and took advantage of Dual Credit opportunities at her high school. Vang, helped by the challenging courses, was accepted to both Harvard University in Massachusetts and Stanford University in California, where she will attend this fall.

To reflect the diversity in our community, four of the 14 videos are translated into Spanish, Hmong, Somali, and Arabic with English subtitles. One Dual Credit video caters to students with special needs.

Check out all our videos and let us know what you think!

Paj Ntaub Lee, Contributor
Outreach Coordinator
Center for School Change