Students in Nassau County
created digital commercials to help local Black-owned businesses that have been
impacted by the pandemic.
News 12
is told four local Black-owned businesses were among those severely impacted by
the global crisis.
To help support the small businesses,
AT&T and Long Island partners 3D's Aftercare and Toddlewood Studios joined
together to create a free, summerlong digital content creator program.
Fifty students from various
towns created commercials for the impacted businesses.
On Tuesday, the students
premiered their work in front of the business owners, County Executive Laura
Curran and friends and family.
The
program was designed to encourage more underserved and diverse students to
enter the field of technology.
Students ranged from 8 to 12 years old.
"The editing process was
really hard, but we learned like how to split clips and delete the clip and it
took a pretty long time but either way it was still fun and everybody got a
turn,” says 8-year-old Delilah Pearson.
The junior digital content creator program
introduced students to the latest cutting-edge video and editing technology.
Dr. Zodelia Williams of 3D's Aftercare tells News 12
the students came up with the questions and the concept for the commercials.
"They got to tell the story, what they were doing and how they were doing
during this pandemic,” says Dr. Williams.
Before filming the
commercial, the students say they didn't know much about the owners, so they're
hoping the commercial will help educate people once they go into their
businesses.
"You can trust the owner
and you can go back to that place over and over again because you know the
owners back story,” says 10-year-old Emilie Vaval.
The business owners were pleased with the
outcome and were able to keep the commercials to use on social media and play
throughout their stores.
"Oh my god, it was
great, it was awesome. Kids did great,” says Swirl Bliss owner Charles Dickens.
One owner says he never would
have thought to do a commercial because of the financial loss his company
experienced since the pandemic began.
"This is a breath of fresh
air…they were able to come in the community and help local businesses,” says
business owner Stephen Emeli.
To view the commercials and for further information on the
program, visit their
website.