THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 12, 1996 TAG: 9601120495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
The tombstone is borrowed. The girl's grief is feigned. The videotaped message, though, is as real as a slap in the face:
A boyfriend refuses to use a condom during sex. His girlfriend contracts the virus that causes AIDS. The infected girl later sits by a grave alone, lamenting the life-altering mistake she's made.
Teenagers are the targets of the 30-second public-service announcement on safe sex. It and another warning video about unwanted teen pregnancy were proposed, researched, written, performed and edited by people who know a lot about the concerns of teenagers: other teens.
``I think it'll get them to think,'' said LaToya Blount, a 17-year-old junior at First Colonial High School, who helped create the safe-sex PSA.
``It probably won't stick, but they'll think about it.''
Councilwoman Louisa M. Strayhorn hopes that more sticks than just the messages.
The two public-service announcements are the first efforts of the Positive Images Project, a program Strayhorn hopes will grow across the city and Hampton Roads.
The project came out of the city's Youth Activity Committee, which Strayhorn chairs. It was formed to provide youngsters, particularly those from low-income areas or troubled families, with something to do in hopes of alleviating potential discipline problems and juvenile crime. Committee members wanted to reach out to kids with something different than traditional extracurricular activities.
Last summer, the committee joined with the city's Video Services Department to coordinate the Positive Images Project. It was a way to provide teens with leadership and teamwork experience. It also gave them hands-on training in a field they might not otherwise encounter - video production.
Sixteen kids from across the city, middle-schoolers to a college freshman, were rounded up by city agencies providing services to youths. The teens worked from September through December on the public-service announcements.
They met one or two afternoons a week, taping scenes six and seven times each on locations such as the beach and a medical clinic. Later they whittled down 15 minutes of videotape for each 30-second spot.
The teen-pregnancy message features an original song composed and performed by Tylesha D. Knox, an 18-year-old freshman at Norfolk State University. As a girl sits alone in the video, rubbing her swollen stomach and looking forlornly out of a window, Knox sings: ``He promised to love me for life, he even said I would be his wife. . . .''
The originality of the theme - that unwanted teen pregnancy also brings loneliness - and the overall quality of the completed announcements surprised Councilwoman Strayhorn.
``We thought they'd do a good job, but nobody thought they'd look that good,'' she said. ``This is not quite what you think of when you think of a children's project.''
So Strayhorn and her committee celebrated with the kids Thursday night at an awards ceremony and reception at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts. To reward and encourage the teens, Strayhorn and her husband used their own money to surprise Knox and Blount with $1,000 scholarships, contingent on the two students maintaining ``B'' averages in their school grades.
Back in September, when it came time to choose topics for the public-service announcements, there was little debate among the teens. Sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancy were tops on their peers' concern list - but ones not much helped by uncommunicative parents or squeamish sex-education classes long on biology but short on practical discussions.
Diseases and pregnancy are ``too ordinary,'' Knox explained. ``It happens a lot.''
Most of their peers' information, often erroneous, is learned from each other, she said.
``We work with kids 8 to 12 (years old), and they know more than you think they do,'' added Nicole R. Wells, a 15-year-old sophomore at Green Run High.
Despite their efforts, the teens weren't confident many would heed their warnings.
``I think they'll look at it, but not get something out of it,'' Wells said. ``They'll keep doing the same thing.''
The participants, however, agreed they came away from the project with new skills in cooperation and accepting criticism.
``After they became comfortable, I think they became better with each taping,'' said Kevin P. Fairley, a video-production specialist for the city who worked with the kids.
``I think editing was the most frustrating for the students because it was so time-consuming. . . . I just think they were stunned, to put it mildly, at how long it took to put it together.
``I think they really learned teamwork, they really learned how to communicate with each other and be open.''
The announcements will be shown on the city's cable-TV public-access Channel 48. Strayhorn hopes to get the local commercial stations to run them also, and not just in the middle of the night, when few people, much less teenagers, are watching.
She and the teens felt the effort was worthwhile, regardless of its ultimate impact.
Knox said: ``At least it lets me know I tried to do something to help the situation.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Youths who produced two teen sexuality public-service videos listen
to judges Thursday night at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.
With an original song, this spot evokes a sense of loneliness and
burden.
A sobering message, not from a parent or health official, but from
peers.
Photo
HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Virginia Beach Councilwoman Louisa Strayhorn, left, helped start the
Positive Images Project. She applauds project member Kim Stephenson
Thursday at the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts.
by CNB