Creating and displaying public service announcements (PSA’s) are a staple assignment for South’s VOICES classes, and is one that aims to make a difference throughout the community. This year’s PSA’s were shown on Wednesday, December 19th in South’s auditorium to an audience of students and family members. Each topic was student picked and meaningful to the life of South’s students, whether it be the personal issue of physical fitness, or something that hits home nationally, like tragic school shootings.
The PSA’s are written, directed, filmed, and performed entirely by VOICES students, and took approximately a month to complete. The students formed groups and worked on their videos with the help of the Minneapolis Television Network (MTN). MTN employees regularly assisted the students on their projects, lending their equipment and allowing the PSA’s to be shown on the network. The PSA’s can be seen on Monday nights at 8:00 on MTN channel 17.
One of the videos, however, cannot be seen at that time, and was deemed too inappropriate to be shown at the presentation on the 19th.
The video’s topic was road rage, and was created by seniors Maeve Whalen, Sinjun Strom, and Abby Fields. Whalen explained that both she and Fields are “rageful” drivers, and that this was their inspiration behind the topic.
“Throughout the video there’s a lot of curse words and the middle finger is shown once,” said Whalen, who went on to say that she felt that changes could have been made to make the video appropriate had they been told that theirs would not have been shown earlier. Whalen said that she was told a day before the presentation, which was three weeks after the project had been completed. All of the curse words used had been bleeped out; however, the middle finger was fully visible.
“I just think that it was pretty unfair that everyone got to show all their hard work to the public and we were denied of that privilege,” Whalen said.
Despite not being shown at the presentation, Whalen feels that her PSA still has the chance to make a difference. “I think that since they’re shown on public TV, someone could see it and think differently about the choices that they’re going to make,” she said.
Whalen’s project will be shown on MTN at a 10:00 late night slot as opposed to the 8:00 prime time slot with her peers’ because of its content, something which she feels may even increase its impact. “That might be even more effective because its not going to be in within a bunch of high school kids’ projects, its just going to be by itself and people could think its actually a commercial,” she said.
Other PSA’s also had topics which included situations that may have been deemed inappropriate for school, including underage drinking and unprotected sex.
Senior Danny Palmer’s PSA was also sensitive at the showing, not because it was inappropriate, but because of its close connect to recent tragedy. Palmer, along with seniors Tysha Harris and Jonah Stuart, focused their video on mental illness and gun violence in schools, a topic which was heavy in viewers’ hearts at the presentation which was less than a week from the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The shooting left 26 teachers and school children dead, victims whom Palmer and his group acknowledged with a moment of silence before playing their PSA.
“It was a really tragic coincidence,” said Palmer.
Palmer, along with his group, decided that the moment of silence was necessary after a class discussion on the topic in VOICES. “I didn’t want to sweep it under the rug, I wanted to acknowledge that it happened,” he said.
Palmer said that he felt that reactions to his PSA would be mixed, particularly since the video shows Stuart’s character with a gun. “Some people would say ‘this is a great time for your PSA,’ but on the other side, it’s just a bad time for us to be showing the PSA since so many people are so sensitive [because of Newtown],” explained Palmer.
Palmer personally said that he felt that the timing may have made the video more impactful. “A lot of people are bringing up the same points I’m bringing up with my PSA about mental health,” he explained. “I am saying we need more, better mental health aids for people, and that’s a topic that’s been brought up over and over again since this shooting.”
For Whalen, the opportunities that she has gotten out of making a PSA have been the most impactful. “You get to have people hear your voice, which as high schoolers we don’t always get to do,” she said. “It’s a different experience outside the regular high school life; it was a super cool experience being able to work with the community and say something that we actually feel strongly about.”
To view the VOICES PSA’s from this year and previous years visit the MTN website or tune into MTN 17 at 8:00 Monday nights.
