Two Jamesville-DeWitt Central School District seniors were recently recognized on a national level for their creativity and voice for editorial cartoons they produced.
Sarah Feng and Kasia Kirnie both submitted to the 2021 KQED Youth Media Challenge editorial cartoons that they produced for an Advanced Placement (AP) Language and Composition assignment in Courtney Romeiser’s class during the 2020-21 school year. Mary Panek, the high school’s library media specialist, and Romeiser collaborate each year to challenge students in Romeiser’s class to create original editorial cartoons.
“We want students to think critically and to examine different perspectives when they research a current event or a topic of interest, and we want them to think about how to effectively deliver the message they want to convey using the techniques and strategies they’ve been taught,” Romeiser said. “The editorial cartoon medium allows students a unique opportunity to showcase their thinking and also their artistry in some cases, although a cartoon’s effectiveness is based on the idea and how it’s delivered more so than the artistic abilities of the creator.”
Typically, they use the New York Times Student Editorial Contest as a guide for the rules and rubric, but last year it did not offer the contest. Panek and Romeiser decided to do the class project anyway because it aligns with the evaluation and analysis of visual rhetoric required of AP Language students, Romeiser said.
Panek discovered the KQED Youth Media Challenge, and although all students were required to produce one cartoon for the class assignment, submitting their work to KQED was voluntary. More than 500 middle and high school students across the country submitted work to the challenge.
The Youth Media Challenge asks students to explore how they see themselves, share their view of the world or envision a better future, according to its website. Students could choose from a range of standards-aligned, media-making projects across content areas, including such projects as science documentaries, podcasts and engineering for good, which involves students identifying a real-world problem that can be improved through engineering.
“Our voices and opinions are discounted a lot,” Sarah said. “We’re at an age where we do have a deep understanding of the world, and I do think it’s important for us to be able to speak our minds.”
Sarah and Kasia’s projects are highlighted in a video from KQED about the challenge projects.