ST LOUIS, Va. — “Post smart, before your future falls apart.”
It may sound like advice shared from an adult to a teenager, but that’s actually the takeaway message at the end of a new PSA created by local high school students.
Kids from Gateway, a public high school in St. Louis, and Ladue High School came together for the annual public service announcement project over the last several weeks.
Groups of students included some from each school and all grade levels, collaborating on how to bring the message into focus and translate it to a real video message.
This year’s theme was to “think before you post” on social media. In years past, the students have created messages about everything from bullying to breast cancer awareness to media literacy.
The group whose presentation was picked was then invited to 5 On Your Side to film and produce their spot. KSDK has partnered with the schools for the project for decades.
Most students are interested in video production, so this was a good opportunity for many of them to visit a real television studio.
However, both teachers and students say the real prize was the chance to meet students from schools much different from theirs and work together on a lasting project.
“You can just see how different our schools are but how alike we are as people,” said Elijah Clark, a junior at Ladue. “I think it’s important to know how to work with other people and to do it creatively, because you always have your ideas and then other people get it out too. I think it’s just a dynamic everybody needs to know and it’s important for us to do that here.”