These are archived news posts that give info about the event from the crew that runs it all.
Hey everyone, Sami here. Thank you so much for taking on the Ready Set ACTion! challenge. I look forward to watching your videos, and for those of you who weren’t able to finish the project, thanks for taking it on even with everything else you have to do. Reminder that the summit day is April 20th 2013. Hope to see you there!
We as a council have had much progress since our last blog post. One of the things that was very necessary that we were able to obtain was permission and backing from our city. A few of our members had a meeting with Chris Wilson, the Director of Parks, Open Space, and Recreation for the City of Steamboat Springs. After talking to him for a while about the slackline park, we obtained much positive feedback from him that really helped to push our knowledge and ideas further and seem like more of a reality. After proposing our ideas of inserting posts that one could possibly set their own slackline on, he was totally on board. Chris Wilson was very interested in the idea of slackline posts available for many reasons. First off, it would help from possibly harming trees from the slacklines digging into them and also, he thinks that our slacklining spot could potentially be an activity that tourists, aside from inactive teens, could take part in. After hearing this great information he told us to think of places that would be the best to set a slacklining park up and we decided that the park by the Howelson Hill Ski Area would be perfect. There is a volleyball net there and many students are already familiar with and use the location, so it would be the most prime. While all of Chris Wilson’s feedback was great to hear, we have faced a few struggles with our coed recreational leagues. These leagues were the most popular with the students at our school and are one of our major priorities as a council. But, finding gym space to put on these leagues has been a very difficult task. We never considered how the different gyms around town might already be booked with sports. At this point, we are trying very hard to find a gym and a time that is best for everyone. Although we have faced our fair share of struggles, we believe that these things cannot stop us from making this idea become a reality because we believe that getting teens active is key and we will not stop until we are able to do just that.
It seemed that six months was more than enough time to complete our live-well project when we, the Steamboat Springs Teen Council, first entered the RSA competition. Now, after a rush of plans, meetings, discussions, and set-backs, our deadline is days away. Danny, the king of the project, is finalizing the documentary of our progress in the project, and the rest of us are carrying out tasks to ensure the project’s future completion.
Our objective, from the beginning, has been to influence inactive teens to get active. Our plan to achieve this has been to create a slack-line park and a co-ed sports league. So far, we’ve taken the necessary first steps, but we still have a long way to go to make our vision a reality. What the viewers of our documentary will see is only the beginning of our efforts to get teens active and healthy. Our plans for the future (in short) include solidifying a location for the slack-line park, developing the park, creating a renting system for slack-lines, finding a location for a co-ed sports league, and putting the league into action!
A newcomer to Steamboat Springs would be quick to notice the numerous people skiing, jogging, biking, rafting etc. The small mountain town, overall, is active and healthy. There is, however, a group of individuals who do not exercise, do not eat right, and have never been persuaded to change. Our goal is to reach out to these individuals and guide them to a healthier lifestyle. Even if the majority of people in Steamboat Springs are active, the group of individuals who are inactive must not be ignored. Our purpose as the Steamboat Springs Teen Council is to reach out to all teens and set a positive example of healthy living. Although we are far from completing our live-well project, what we have to show you currently demonstrates our concern for inactive teens and the steps we have taken to reach out to our community and fellow peers. We will continue to make you proud. Thanks for your support.
It has been so fun working on our smoke free parks and trails ordinance. We are ready to submit our project and want to wish everyone the best of luck. It has been lots of fun reading about all of the great projects happening around the state!
In hopes of getting teens in our community of Steamboat Springs, Colorado more active, we as a council have been doing research and work towards putting in place both a slack lining park and recreational co-ed leagues.
In our high school we sent around a survey to see if our target audience of students, those who are inactive, were interested in getting active in either of these events. We got over 70 students from area high schools to answer a variety of different questions based on their physical activity and how often they are active and what they would be interested in participating in. They had a long list of activities to choose from- some of which were very popular and others that were obviously not fit for our students. We were focused mostly on the students that answered who were rarely active and found that a lot of them were interested in participating in different kinds of league sports (ranging all the way from kickball and volleyball to flashlight tag). We then realized that in order to get these inactive people moving and exercising it is necessary to start some sort of league that is only available to high school students and for a very affordable cost. As a council, we decided that in order to cover all the different sports that the different people at our school are interested in, we would need to make something that encapsulates all the different sports we mentioned. We then thought of making a league that switches sports every month or so and each different sport hopefully bringing in more and more people, starting small then becoming more and more popular as people have a great time there and tell their friends about it. Based on these survey results, we believe that this will be a hit.
As for our slack line park, the survey results on that didn’t appeal quite as much to the students that are rarely active. It was more in a mid-popularity range rather than at the top or the bottom. But, this did not discourage us at all! We know that when some students think of a slack lining park they don’t see exactly what we are envisioning. We are hoping to build it somewhere that is convenient and in town so that you don’t have anything to do or you are in the area you will see it and try it out. It would be a fun place to go with your friends and hang out around and it would be very inexpensive or even free. Also, some people have not tried slack lining but we believe once we get people there and going, it will be big with all different kinds of people. The survey we conducted helped us a lot in terms of reassuring us in some ways and educating us in others. We will keep you updated as we move further and get closer to putting our ideas into action!
My name is Kate, I have long had a conflict between my love of fashion and my desire to promote positive body image. I took a fashion illustration class over the summer and the first thing they taught us was how to draw the industry-standard fashion figure. It is 9 heads tall compared to an average human’s 7 ½, and some designers even draw with a figure as tall as 12 or 13 heads. This struck me as strange; we are starting from the sketch with a standard of “beauty” that is not even humanly possible. It’s not healthy to feel like we have to measure up when the mannequins that our clothes are designed for are literally larger than life.
Recently however, I have realized that I can combine these two passions. I love designing and sewing clothes because I see fashion as art for the human form. I want to see a variety of beautiful body types in clothing ads and brands. I want to use fashion to celebrate body diversity, because that’s what beauty is to me. As a group and in our movie we want to redefine the standard of beauty in our teen culture. What does beauty mean to you?
Our youth leadership group, the Torch Club has worked hard for over 2 years to get our local City Council to pass a new tobacco free parks and trails ordinance. They finally voted and….GREAT NEWS- it is now official. All Durango, CO public parks, playgrounds, bus stops and the River Trail are smoke free!
Hi everyone, we are having a film training with Mitchell Alexander February 2nd from 2:00 pm-3:30 via Skype. Again to join the call make sure you have a broadband connection, webcam, and Skype 5.0. If you haven’t already, request to be added as a contact with acsoler2.
If you participate you will be expected to introduce yourselves and share where you are in the video making progress 1. assessment 2. problem or 3. impact. You don’t need to share any details about your video or project you don’t want to, but be sure to talk about your group as a whole, your purpose, and reason for joining RSA.
The training covers preproduction and storyboard, technical aspects, and a Q&A.
Please let us know if you plan to join in, and hopefully talk to you soon!
~Coffee!
Hello everybody,
For those of you who don’t already know, Ready Set ACTion! is connected with another group called Summit Planning Leadership Action Team (SPLAT) who is creating a youth summit centered around networking, leadership advocacy, showcasing group work, and education on youth health topics. The end of the summit has RSA’s big event with judging and announcement of winners.
Where: North High School
When: April 20th 9 am-4 pm
Notes: The school is along major bus lots. There’s a large parking lot for easy parking. Some groups may come the night before if they are centered far away from Denver. There are some hotels within a mile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On another note, SPLAT is still looking for people who want to join the summit team or perhaps a separate committee (decorating, food, activities, etc.) Email Mark.S.Pergola@kp.org if you’re interested or want more information. If you live far away from Denver you can Skype in to participate.
We, the Steamboat Springs Teen Council, are off to a promising start in fulfilling one of our goals for this year: To create and sustain enticing activities that influence inactive teens to get active. We hope to develop fun and long-lasting activities that will attract the masses and promote exercise. This program is supported by the LiveWell program in Routt County.
So, we wanted to let you know what we’ve been up to!
While sitting in the Tenth Street Milk Run Donut Shop and enjoying homemade donuts, we met to begin the process of reaching our goal. Through the smell of baking dough and crumbs sprinkling our papers, we began by separating into subcommittees based on what we feel needs to get done. Earlier, as a council, we brainstormed ideas of healthy activities, decided to meet with school coaches and other organizations interested in teen health, and to create a survey to administer to teens about which activities they would be interested in attending. To document our progress, Danny, our rising leader, will film Teen Council meetings, interviews with community members, and other events involving our project. He and Kent will collaborate on their artistic abilities to create an informing and visually interesting documentary. The next person to volunteer for a position was Thania, a new member of Steamboat Springs Teen Council. She took the initiative of creating a survey to ask teens about their interest in yoga, TRX classes, a permanent slackline park, and coed sports leagues. The survey will be an important tool in moving forward with our project and in talking with community members. As indicated, all members of the committee were assigned to important tasks, completing the first vital step in fulfilling our goal.
In the weeks following our meeting at Milk Run, Danny gathered interviews from involved community members and presented to the LiveWell Steering Committee with help from Malia and Amaris. The presentation went well, and all seemed onboard to continue supporting our project. They were specifically impressed with our determination to focus on teens who do not exercise and participate in sports on a regular basis. Our Teen Council supervisors, Brooke and Kate, also met with the Steamboat Springs High School athletic director about possibly using the high school gym for some of our activities. Unfortunately, he said that because of high school sports, open gym time would not be available for the activities we were proposing. We as a council are now on the search for other possible locations for our future activities to get teens exercising. In the next couple of week Kayla, Annie and Thania will also administer the survey to teens and Michael and Logan will work to analyze the results.
We as members of the Steamboat Springs Teen Council are dedicated to completing our vision of long-lasting activities for inactive teens to improve the health of teens in Steamboat Springs. We feel passionate about our cause and are willing to put forth the effort necessary to make our dream a reality. We have taken the first step and are prepared to walk the remaining miles.
Hey there everyone! I’m Lizz Nagle-Heim, a new member of the group. I’m 17, a former student at Ralston Valley High School.
I’d love to meet all of you, and I really enjoy talking, so don’t be afraid to come and say hello! Any of you can get a hold of me through Skype, Facebook, or even over the phone. In fact, I urge you to add me on Facebook and Skype, so we can all get to know each other better, which is always a fun thing!
Skype: the-lizzi-monster
Facebook: Lizzi Nagle-Heim or katra_55@live.com (I’m not sure which one would be easier to find me with)
And cell number: 720-298-4436
It would be amazing to hear from any of you guys!
Hello guys! Sorry about the Skype call that was supposed to be on at 6:00 Friday night. We had a few technical difficulties, but we should still be on for a call via Skype tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM. We’re also going to have two more calls coming up, on November 30 and December 14 at 6:00 PM. It would also be great if everyone could send Sami an add on Skype – her username is Adumbralwolf. Also, it’d be wonderful, if you all could send me an add as well, at the-lizzi-monster on Skype.
Thanks everyone!
Lizzi~
Hey guys just a quick update that the Skype calls for this week have been decided. For more information on the call visit this blog post => http://www.readysetaction.org/skype-call-wednesday-the-24th-at-400-pm-any-youth-council-can-participate/
Thanks and hope to talk to you all soon!
~Coffee!
Hey youth groups,
Coffee! has created a doodle poll to determine the date and time of a Skype call in the third week of November. Again any youth group can participate and the purpose is to get youth talking to youth about their group, project, skills, experiences, etc. For more information on what to talk about click here => http://www.readysetaction.org/skype-call-wednesday-the-24th-at-400-pm-any-youth-council-can-participate/
I encourage people to say the group availability as a whole as well as the schedules of individuals who can Skype from home.
Thanks!
~Coffee!
Hello everyone,
Coffee! just recently registered our 14th youth council: Colorado Meth Project. From their website, the Colorado Meth Project “is a large-scale prevention program aimed at reducing Meth use through public service messaging, public policy, and community outreach.” Their approach is to educate the public about the consequences of Meth and prevent teenagers from addiction to Meth (“43% of Colorado Meth addicts began usage at 17 or younger”). They are a research-based campaign and gather surveys and statistics to thoroughly understand the psyches toward meth; they then portray their conclusions through the media. They collaborate with local, state, and federal agencies to create outreach, awareness, and prevention programs/activities. The project has increased teen awareness about the consequences of Meth and dissuaded many from ever using or letting their friends use the drug.
For ReadySetACTion!, the Colorado Meth Project’s members are performing service projects individually within their communities to lay a foundation throughout the state for addressing the problem. Their attitude is “strength in numbers” to educate, create awareness, and have teens talking to teen about Meth use.
Thanks for taking on the challenge CMP and looking forward to working with you!
~Sami
Congratulations for the work and organization you’ve all done so far. By now you have a project and have worked out what the project is going to be and soon you’ll need to make a documentary about it. So what are you waiting for, get filming…Ready! Set! Wait….
That’s right don’t start filming yet. Before you begin filming anything and everything you need to take a moment and do some pre-planning together as a team and come up with a script. This is called Preproduction.
It may be surprising to some, but most documentaries have some sort of outline, treatment or script written before anything is filmed. At the very least your team needs to write out in paragraph form, a couple of pages explaining, step-by-step, what your documentary will look like.
So what does this mean? It means literally outlining what everything about the final project will look like and sound like. Will you be using photos? Interviews? Recreations? Computer graphics? Or something different? Where will you interview people, if you do? What sort of backgrounds will you have? Who and what will be featured in your documentary? What will they say? (Yes, you will even map out what people will say and do before they do it.)
Why would you do this? Obviously you will not really know what people will say and do before they do it, but imagining these things helps. It helps you know where you want your documentary to go and what you want it to look like. Most likely people won’t always say and do what you anticipated but you can use your script as a guideline. Are they going too far off target? Are they giving you something different but better? While filming you’ll keep your script or treatment in mind but you’ll always be willing to be flexible to change it if something better comes up.
An added step or a different approach to planning out your documentary could be in the form of a Storyboard. A storyboard is basically a page with empty boxes. You fill in the main visuals of the storyline as you’d want to see it online. All successful big and small productions use storyboards.
To recap:
1. Don’t JUST start filming anything and everything. 2. Have a plan in the form of an outline, script or treatment. 3. If you need more visualization, storyboard the visuals, the dialogue and music when appropriate. 4. Pre-planning or preproduction is critical to a successful project.
Ten minutes is a long time to keep someones attention. If you don’t plan now what you’re documentary will look and sound like you’ll have a harder time putting something together later. Keep in mind these are planning tools and don’t be afraid to stray a bit if something needs to be changed as you go. However you never know where you’re going to go if you don’t plan for it first.
Links:
Free script writing software:
Example of Documentary Script
Here’s an article on storyboarding. Notice you can use just stick figures. You can also use photos you take or someone else took. Anything really just to give you an idea of what the stuff will look like. This is your first visualization of your project.
Youtube video on making a micro-documentary. There’s a lot of good information in this short fun documentary.
Thanks,
Mitch
Hello fellow youth groups,
For those already participating in ReadySetACTion! (RSA) or those who are considering signing up, I invite you to a Skype call with Coffee! the group behind ReadySetACTion on October 24th starting at 4:00. As said before, Coffee!’s role is to help the youth groups with anything they need whether that’s clarification, research help, someone to bounce ideas off of, etc. but perhaps more importantly we are attempting to connect youth groups across the state of Colorado to each other. The purpose of this Skype call is to begin that process of our members talking to each other as well as have the councils interested in RSA learning more about the concept through communication with current participants.
Coffee! will answer any questions, update the participants, and receive feedback. We’d love to hear your thoughts/opinions on our website, project structure, methods, or anything else you’d like to say.
For groups already participating in RSA, share information about your team and RSA project with the other groups. I’m sure we’d all love to hear how you’re making change within your community, what skills you’re building, and what you’ve learned from leadership.
And groups interested in RSA but not yet registered, please voice any concerns you have about participating. We’d love for you to join our challenge and will help with anything you need. Don’t worry too much about time constraints, the project isn’t due till March 1st so there’s plenty of time and Coffee! helps anyway you need. If you decide you can’t participate in RSA that’s fine, but be sure to talk with the groups at the Skype call and share what you’ve done with your youth council.
If you’re interested, make sure you have a broadband connection, a webcam, and Skype 5.0. Request to be added as a contact with acsoler2 preferably by Tuesday the 23rd or noon of Wednesday the 24th. If you miss these deadlines you can still try to join but notifying us sooner decreases the risk of technical issues.
Hope to talk to you four o’clock on Wednesday!
~Coffee
Hey this is Sami, now currently the newest member of Coffee (today was my first meeting). I’ll be a senior at Ralston Valley this fall. Just wanted to stress how important the criteria is for Ready Set Action.
I suppose you could treat it like the rubric of a school project. So while you’re working on your project, constantly check the Steps to ensure your group meets all the requirements and doesn’t miss any points. This is our method to keep the judging fair. If anything’s unclear or you’re unsure about something feel free to ask us.
Just so you know I LOVE talking, communicating, and meeting new people. I sincerely hope all the groups and individuals will keep in contact with me and Coffee, keep us updated on everyone’s progress, share ideas, and talk with us and the other groups whenever you hit a roadblock. Blog blog blog. It’s incredibly fun and no ones gonna criticize you so don’t be afraid to get out their and introduce yourself. So talk with me all of you. Just to show you I’m serious…
Facebook: Sami Nara (You might be able to find me via the Ready Set Action page)
Cell: 303-476-3396
Skype: adumbralwolf (Cause I’m thesaurus obsessed… Just a bit ><)
Seriously the purpose of this project is to connect youth groups with others. So if you don’t communicate with each other and Coffee, I promise I’ll sneak into your meetings.
Oki! I think that’s all~ Love to everyone and talk to you later… or else =)
Hello,
In case you didn’t see the email that went out here is a quick update on your project’s free camera!
|
Here is a cool article that could spark ideas for projects! Even if it doesn’t it’s still a interesting read!
Go here for the article: http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-violence-aging-20120425,0,3628526.story
Hello amazing projects! A few of you might be wondering how to do what I’m doing right now: blogging. Here is the link to a great tutorial on how to do so. http://www.readysetaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/RSA-Blog-WP-tutorial.pdf Also, to find the link without this blog post click on the ‘Need Help?’ tab on our website and under #4 you will see How to Create Blog Posts! So, now that you know what to do, blog away!!!!
Hey everyone! My name is Makalah Emanuel and I am one of the members of the Denver RAP youth council.
The Denver RAP’s youth council is made up of high school students who want to serve as a resource to other teens and members of the community with the aim of reducing youth substance use and abuse. We’re a pretty new group and we are still trying to get our name out there. This contest will be our first major project as a youth council and we’re all really excited about it!
When we met last Thursday, we began talking about what our community assesment is going to look like. As of right now, we are going to make a survey and give it members in the community closet to North High School. The survey is going to ask questions about what they like and dislike about their community and what they would like to see changed.
Next month, we will finalize our questions and hopefully start asking community members about their opinions.
We can’t wait!
Wow! The youth producers have been busy presenting to youth groups and making phone calls. As we get the word out we have had some questions. I figure that if one person asks, others have the same questions. Here are some answers for all.
Q. Do I need to complete the health action-project and video by June 30?
A. No, you only need to register on the website by June 30. You have until March, 2013 to complete the health action-project.
Q. I am a little nervous about making a video…does it have to be movie quality?
A. No, worries – your movie does not have to be an Oscar contender! The main idea behind this is that you document what you do to improve your community. Your project accounts for the majority of the score (see Judging and Submission Criteria).
Q. Yikes! How do I edit and make a movie?
A. Once you register you will have access to resources such as a camera, a youth producer to bounce ideas off of, staff at Civic Canopy about the process and technical assistance for videos. You’ll also meet other youth groups that are registered and blogging – probably with the same or similar questions you have.
Q. What if I don’t see my group again until the fall (e.g., school groups or youth councils that take the summer off) – Should I go ahead and register now?
A. Most definitely, Yes! If you know you have a group that will want to do this it’s fine to register them now to be sure they can participate when they get back together.
One of the best pieces of feedback we have received so far is from a youth group who is excited about the project and the adult advisor shared that her group has had some of the best conversations and have gone to a deeper level since considering doing this project.
Dear Participants of Ready Set Action,
My name is Chim Lee. My full name is Chimmmoua Lee, but you can call me Chim to make your life easier. But, I am one of the youth producers/ co-founder of this amazing health action project that you guys will be participating in. I am currently attending Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, and I am finishing my junior year there. WHOOOOT! WHOOOT! Bye Class of 2012 and Go class of 2013!!!!!!!
Anyway, I can still remember the very first meeting in August, where we thought about our values of our communities and one of the topics was health. In general, to me, health is such a broad term that can fit into many bench marks of our community and our community may lack of care or may be suffering from an illness. I am very honored and excited to work with all of you who are participating because I know that you guys have a passion to impact your community in a positive way. And I just want to acknowledge all of you; for taking the first steps in making a difference or either continuing your passion and motives for your community.
I know that taking on this project may be difficult and challenging for some of you guys that never really had experience with using a video camera, but I just want to let you guys know that this is a tremendous working and learning experience. Honestly, I don’t even know how to work a camera/video program myself, but I have the resources. You do too! I just want to let everyone know that you are not alone in this project and to continue the great work that all of you are doing and I hope to see you or talk to you soon! Thanks!
-Chim
Hi everyone! I’m extremely excited to introduce myself. I am Luna Ly, a student at Westminster High School and Youth Producer of the Ready! Set! ACTion! health action project.
I’ve been involved with the Ready! Set! ACTion from the beginning, when Kaiser first asked us to assist them in this youth health action project to present day. It’s my honor to be the website moderator as well. As a matter of fact, it’s an honor to be a part of Coffee and the RSA! Project in general.
But you might be wondering what Coffee is. Coffee is composed of youth and adult driven to positively impact the community’s health in all shapes and forms.We are powered by Kaiser Permanente and a project of the Civic Canopy.We have monthly meetings to direct and guide the project. Yes it was us who directed the logo, website and even designed the title Ready! Set! ACTion! all so long ago.
You can shoot us a question any time, any where, we will make sure to get back to you as soon as possible.
What is Coffee! you may ask? This is the name the youth have chosen for themselves as a planning group. So far the 6 dedicated youth producers are reviewing the website that is currently under construction, planning a training on website maintenance, reviewing the site, and planning to produce another video! The time is coming….
