This short video piece was created around the mural project I’ve been doing with YWCA’s Fresh Start program at Murry Bergtraum High School in lower Manhattan. (You can read more about the project in a previous blog post.) The program targets freshman students who are in academic trouble and finds new and interesting ways to get them involved in their school and excited about their educational career.

A Murry Bergtraum High School student works on the mural

It’s always difficult to try and sum up an entire program in a minute-long spot, but I think that Plowshares Media really did a wonderful job here. For someone like myself with little knowledge of filmmaking, it was amazing to see how fast they were able to work. They showed up at the high school, set up their equipment in a completely un-cinematic setting (your typical public high school lunchroom, complete with broken ceiling lights, trash-strewn floor, kids milling about, and acres and acres of those strange foldable tables every school seems to have), and captured me and the guys painting the final panel of our Jackson Pollock–inspired mural. They conducted interviews with us in the YWCA office, and got some powerful and honest stuff out of their conversation with Bradley, who opened up in a real way about issues that not a lot of teens usually discuss in public. In the end, they really captured the energy and depth of our Community Partnership Program. Extra special thanks to everyone who lent their talents and voices to this project. I can’t wait to see what we do next year.