Yesterday, Michelle and Niloo, high school students from Cleveland High School in Reseda, California were at the Los Angeles International Airport, Tom Bradley Terminal, welcoming international youth delegates to the city?s new international terminal in preparation for the opening ceremony and convening of the 9th International Youth Media Summit starting tonight in Aliso Viejo housed at Soba University. http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-lax-tom-bradley-terminal-20130918-photogallery.html)  They are challenging themselves to find peace and stability by dialogue, international exchange, and by learning to research, cast an idea, edit, and frame up content as students of digital arts with varied interests and building commercial skills.

It would be enough to welcome 6 or 10 young adults to Los Angeles and Southern California for the return of the IMYS to its founding base, but these young  leader/U.S. delegates are happily welcoming many more students to the LA Region.

They nervously awaited the arrivals of students coming to Los Angeles from: Slovenia, Nigeria, Armenia, Iran, Sweden, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Afghanistan, Croatia, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Australia, Palestine, Greece, and Hong Kong.  In total, they received youth from  18 of the 24 countries. At a time when the state and the city are searching to provide tax credits for the film industry and the Mayor has been creating student jobs, they represented their high school Media Academy, in its 10^th year as the 9^th International youth media festival hosts to arrange the transport of the students to their lodgings in preparation for the  9^th International Summit returning to its home base in the region and potentially the educational ?time of their lives? learning about and with other youth producers, writers, engineers, and talent.

Instead of a model UN, this is a cross national learning environment where students come to think, share, imagine, and create.  The program first started in LAUSD founded by Cleveland?s celebrated and successful digital arts teachers, Evelyn Seubert and James Gleason.  It  is now pingponging from continent to continent and from megacity to megacity.  Arriving students have been juried to have the skills to co-produce public service announcements about 7 key subjects that will matter now and for the rest of their adult lives.  The production topics defined by Cleveland students are a focal point for students to choose to dialogue and grapple with through film, research and storytelling .  These issue/topics that they will struggle with, share about, and find the skills and voices that will communicate valuable concepts to others. Topics are not vain, but chosen as a stretch for young minds to grapple with world issues that plague modernity and threaten lives.

In the process of being challenged to understand issues, they will live and eat with others and find out how to dialogue, appraise a situation, and develop an idea with new colleagues under tight deadlines.  This collaborative process, like the international world economies and global work environment that they are cumulatively representing, will challenge and demand soft skills and technology arts that develop their understanding and vocational skills.  They will. as a whole, and as teams focused on topics, come back to media arts, global leaders, and news room basics, such as concurrently sharing tools, projects, assets, ideas as they steward their projects and study the natural, cultural, political systems and resources that maintain and sustain  daily life.

A huge week for them where they will be learning about Southern California as well as embracing  the culture and style of others.  They will reach into their own civility and compassion as they hear about the experiences of others.  They are on assignment here in one of the film capitals of the world to build formative skills as well as new friends, experiences, and attitudes that will last a lifetime.  And if they can do that, what else will take root from the ongoing IYMS?s media arts educational cultural tourism-?..a  life long digital dialogues, new career possibilities, vocational and personal friendships and more: Future international college aspirations or exchanges?; American Grad Schools?; Return Travel?;A future with recognition and contribution?  At a time when teens are in the news for many reasons, these students will take a role of academic leadership using their voices and technology when our state is touting  the value of Career Tech statewide.

The sky's no longer the limit for the participating delegates as these conferences rotate their host countries annually.  With the tragedy of human miscommunication that more often than not circles the world with intolerance and fear, what a feat of organization by the founders, that this Summit has returned to California and will have opening ceremonies convening tonight.

Please look at the sponsors listed below and consider donating to this grassroots program with its worldwide scope. By touching so many young lives with a sense of possibility and digital empowerment they are becoming more experienced communicators -ready to address issues, become informed and inform others facing a global marketplace and appreciating where they live and the history of media and its development worldwide now focused on digital technology and consumer electronics. For the purpose of the classrooms, hand held professional and semiprofessional gear that allows them to work quickly and collaborate on short format public service announcements helping the community at large while they hone their ?chops? and secure competencies described in the Common Core, the Arts Standards, the Department of Labor?s AATVC career cluster, and in 21^st Century Pathways as well as Career Tech.

Bravo to all these young leaders who raised their capacity by raising money for their Summit to be convened with video and kickstarter type (indie gogo) and touring capital campaigns and their thorough forethought/planning.  Thank you to Ms. Seubert and Mr. Gleason and Principal Clay as well as their city partners and the corporations and companies that made this possible.

Thank you to all the Summit instructors, the Universities, advocates, colleges, and students who because of  their activism and bravado, sense of purpose, and willingness have reached across the world, and for 8 years, brought the San Fernando Valley?s Cavalier's from The Media Academy to their home towns. Now they will impact their host delegates and in the process take home a bit of the Golden State in their footage and their memories.

Iyms- taking place in three countries:

http://www.iyms-usa.org/

Find out about becoming an affiliate or a sponsor to fund part of the conference or the next conference or a delegate.

http://www.iyms-usa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=20&Itemid=127

Sponsor page:

http://www.iyms-usa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=27&Itemid=156

Find out about the seven issues:

http://www.iyms-usa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=111

Discrimination ~ Environment ~ Health ~ Poverty ~ Violence ~

Women?s Rights ~ Youth Empowerment   

Iyms ?Our tube? (video psas created by teens for nonprofits):

http://www.iyms-usa.org/index.php?option=com_allvideoshare&view=category&slg=0&orderby=default&Itemid=126  

Ten years of excellence (facebook page)Cleveland Media Academy at Cleveland High School:

https://www.facebook.com/chsmediaacademy

http://www.clevelandhs.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=62644&type=d&pREC_ID=97312

http://imtglobalinc.com/grover-cleveland-high-school/

International Film Festivals for Youth:

http://192.168.1.1:8181/http://www.hfs.hr/hfs/festival741/katalog2011LT.pdf

http://iyfilm.org/ (green farms academy, ct)

http://www.makesilentfilm.com/contact.html (portland, or)

http://www.r2rfestival.org/ (Vancouver, BC)

http://www.nffty.org/press/largest-international-youth-film-festival-accepting-submissions-2014-festival (Seattle, WA)

http://www.nuff.no/ (Tromso, Norway)

http://www.cinemachicago.org/cineyouth/ (Chicago, IL)

http://www.interfilm.de/en/kuki2013/home.html (Berlin, Germany)

http://www.wya.net/culture/miff.html (Manhattan, NY, NY)

https://www.withoutabox.com/03film/03t_fin/03t_fin_fest_01over.php?festival_id=7688 (South Wales, UK)

https://www.austinfilmfestival.com/young-filmmakers-program/young-filmmakers-competition/ (Austin, TX)

Directory:

http://filmcontests.reelshowint.com/student-film-festival-international-directory-2014/

Setting Standards:

http://youthvoices.adobe.com/community/our-approach

http://www.lynda.com/default.aspx

State and Federal Backgrounder:

http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr14/yr14rel7.asp

http://www.cde.ca.gov/ci/ct/pk/

http://www.acsa.org/FunctionalMenuCategories/Media/EdCalNewspaper/EdCalArchives/January15/Increasedfundingforcareertech.aspx

http://www.careertech.org/career-clusters

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/california-production-tax-credit-generated-4-3-billion-in-activity-1201139224/

http://www.highered.nysed.gov/tcert/faqct.html

Teaching Specialists 2000 plus listed in Linked In:

https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?title=technology+support+teacher&orig=TSEO_SN&trk=TSEO_SN&csrfToken=ajax%3A1571208820641567735&domainCountryName=