Canarsie Students Win NPR's Student Podcast Challenge

Assembly Member Jaime Williams and I had the pleasure to congratulate students from the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media class of 2020 as they received their diplomas and awards.

Several students in attendance recently won a national podcast competition from National Public Radio (NPR) for their podcast entitled, "The Flossy Project: Climate Change and Environmental Racism"

Past podcasts the students created included topics on immigration, what it means to be masculine, and video games.

When these students attended last September's climate march, they wanted to interview participants.  As they noticed the lack of other students of color during the march in Manhattan, the students "felt like we should talk about what we're seeing and what's going on from our point of view."

Questions developed and the podcasters wanted to ask, "which communities are most impacted by climate change?"

In "The Flossy Project," the students read from a 2018 Quartz article about a study funded by the federal government that determined Black communities faced higher levels of pollution and were more likely to live closer to industrial areas and landfills than their white peers.

"For people growing up in Canarsie, we don't really realize we're living in these areas," says Joshua Bovell in the podcast. "But then you go somewhere else, like Mill Basin, and you're like, 'Why is this so different than where I live?' " 

Coupling this study with the students' experiences during Hurricane Sandy, NPR lauded their work and awarded them winners of the nationwide NPR Student Podcast Challenge.

I want to highlight this massive achievement from Jamar T., Brianna J., Jaheim B., Joshua B., Isaiah D., and Kamari M.

Behind them were facilitators, Xavier Cornejo and Mischael Cetoute, Guidance Councilor Lakisha David, and IAM Assistant Principal Jamie Weyerbacher.

This is an amazing achievement from our local Canarsie youth and I thank everyone involved for showcasing the talents of these students.  You make your families and Brooklyn very proud.

Congratulations to all the graduating students of the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media Class of 2020!

Below is the link to the podcast so you can hear this amazing work.

#SD19

https://soundcloud.com/canarsiestudios/climate-change-environmental-racism