Teen Video Focuses on Turf

Silver Spring, Maryland – August 3, 2006

On Friday, August 4, at 7:30 PM, a group of Silver Spring teens held a screening of the video called "Finding Our Turf," on the green in downtown Silver Spring. The video is the culmination of a four-week summer project in which fourteen local teens used microphones and video cameras to interview other young people who come to the new downtown to relax and socialize. The group's mission was to understand the popularity of Silver Spring's accidental teen hang-out spot, A.K.A., the Turf.

The project is lead by Lisa Jaeggi, producer of No No Skateboarding, and Segun Aje, a youth development worker with the YMCA. The two college students recruited a diverse group of local teens and trained them how to operate video cameras and conduct interviews. Each week had a different theme and the footage they shot was edited by Jaeggi and posted on the Internet as a Vlog, or video blog. Friday's video is a twenty-minute compilation of all their interviews.  According to Jaeggi, 21, "Teens have mixed feelings about downtown Silver Spring. On the one hand it is the cool place to hang out with your friends; on the other hand most of the attractions are commercial and teens are not really welcome when they stop spending money. We wanted to use this video to show adults that teens are full partners downtown and to show teens that they have more influence than they think." 

The project was initiated by a group of local youth serving organizations that came together out of a sense that too many young people are disconnected from the changes happening in Silver Spring. According to Frankie Blackburn, Executive Director of Impact Silver Spring, "We were looking for a project that would institutionalize youth voice in Silver Spring."