July 6, 2018
Celeste Vaca, a third-year journalism student at California State University, Northridge, patiently waited to hear from Global Girl Media. Vaca had applied to the coveted Los Angeles Summer Media Training Program, where the program would cultivate “scholastic achievement, harnesses tech skills, ignites community activism, and spark social change.”
Finally, Vaca received the call and became one of 20 women accepted to Global Girl Media’s Summer Intensive Media Program, held through July 16, place at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School.
Vaca is working alongside other diverse women to create a series of short documentaries, each depicting a current social issue. Participants will receive video, journalism and media production training which will include: story development, the artistry and craft of filmmaking and video editing as well. Vaca, in addition, will meet with media industry leaders and receive mentoring from Global Girl Media.
Aside from Los Angeles, Global Girl Media, founded in 2010, is active in the Bay Area, Chicago and internationally in South Africa, Morocco and Kosovo, according to information posted on the organization’s web site. It lists its mission as: “… developing voice and media literacy of teenage girls along with young women, ages 14-22, in under-served communities by teaching them to create and share digital journalism designed to improve scholastic achievement, ignite community activism and spark social change.”
The GGM summer training academy leaders focus their efforts, the organization notes, to encourage girls and young women to seek careers in the media and to serve as advocates for their community. The summer academy is part of several other year-round programs and encourages female students to apply.