A partnership between Yellow Medicine East (YME), Renville County West (RCW), Living at Home-Block Nurse Program (LAHBNP), Pioneer Public Broadcasting System (PBS), Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU), and Ridgewater Community and Technical College has received a $15,000 LYFT Pathways Innovation award that will give new digital media skills to students, plus a plethora of career exploration and exposure.

During the experience students are preparing to make active decisions toward their career, community, and/or college. Students will learn new real-world skills and practical knowledge that they could use as in tangible careers at PBS and LAHBNP. Through this experience, students will see school as relevant and help them to identify a career and college path to digital media communications. Students will learn how to restore old photographs and film, create a documentary, Students will be looking at local businesses that offer restoring photos/ film. West Central Printing, Nostalgic Media, and Legacybox. The students will practice transforming some of the old media to a digital format, once that is mastered they will be ready to do this process for others. Students will offer services to our community senior citizens by providing restoration of old photographs/slides and film and transforming them into a digital format. This will happen through an arranged meeting with the students and selected seniors from the Living at Home Block Nurse Program. After the initial meeting, they go back and transfer the old photos/film within a two-week window. Upon completion of the restored media, another meeting will be arranged between students and seniors to review the new digital format and have conversations about why the photos/film are important to them. They will be recording the conversations both with audio and video. Afterward, they will use some of the conversations along with the restored imagery to create a documented story from the period of their life found in the old media. The project will have students working directly with PBS and LHBNP. About midway through the semester students will tour SMSU and Ridgewater exploring their training programs that tie into the Renewed Memories course. At the end of the project, the senior citizens will have their old media returned and a new digital copy. The documentary projects will be highlighted in a film viewing possibly held at PBS.

For more information contact Tamara Isfeld at Yellow Medicine East Schools.