My Internship Project
For my internship Project, I worked with fellow interns Dezza Vidrio and Naidelyn Hernandez to produce a video in support of AB 949, a bill that Assemblywoman Gonzalez wrote that would turn competitive cheerleading into a CIF Sport. As of the end of our internship, the bill had made it out of the Assembly with only one vote against it and was headed to Senate Committees before it went to the Senate floor for the vote that would send it up to the governor to be signed into law. The purpose of the video was to give a platform for the voices of cheerleaders, cheer coaches, and other athletes that strongly support the bill.
Additionally, part of our project was also helping to inform the public about aspects of the bill that may not have been explicitly clear. For example, there was concern among some cheer coaches about this bill because they believed that it would turn cheerleading into a seasonal activity, since cheer would have to follow CIF regulations just like every other sport. It was up to us to address those concerns, clarifying that only competitive cheer would be seasonal; cheer as people think of today performing stunts at halftime of the football game and leading chants at the basketball games would remain unaffected.
The process we went through to produce this video was very dynamic. Of course, we had to begin like any other group of film makers would; by storyboarding. Then we had to brainstorm and orchestrate questions for a variety of people that we planned to interview, including past and present cheerleaders, cheer coaches and administrators, parents and athletes of other sports. When we had to find the contact information for individuals in all of those categories, reach out to them, and schedule a time, date and location for our interview. There were some that were thrilled about the video and were eager to help in any way that they could, and then there were others that informed us that they were not interested in participating. We then had to conduct and record those interviews, which, to me, was the most exciting part of this project. From there, it was a matter of uploading the files and then editing them into a final video. As of this blog post, the video is still under production.
This project was important for three primary reasons. Our video helped amplify the voices and opinions of high school and adult constituents of the district, it showed that there is some level of support among cheerleaders, and it gave Assemblywoman Gonzalez something she could show her lawmaking colleagues. As I mentioned earlier, we went out to conduct interviews with people across Chula Vista, which gave us the opportunity to listen to what constituents had to say about the bill, and more importantly, how they felt about it. This is when we got to hear people's opinions, and I was personally surprised by how much support this bill had from non cheerleaders. There were some juniors and seniors, male and female, not in cheer that knew about the bill, and that strongly supported it. Ultimately, the goal of this project was to produce something that Assemblywoman Gonzalez could take up to the capital to show, and say, "Look, this is why this bill is worthy of support, and constituents, at least in my district, do have favorable opinions about the bill." The Assemblywoman's ability to do that will be the factor that judges whether this project was a success or not.
Additionally, part of our project was also helping to inform the public about aspects of the bill that may not have been explicitly clear. For example, there was concern among some cheer coaches about this bill because they believed that it would turn cheerleading into a seasonal activity, since cheer would have to follow CIF regulations just like every other sport. It was up to us to address those concerns, clarifying that only competitive cheer would be seasonal; cheer as people think of today performing stunts at halftime of the football game and leading chants at the basketball games would remain unaffected.
The process we went through to produce this video was very dynamic. Of course, we had to begin like any other group of film makers would; by storyboarding. Then we had to brainstorm and orchestrate questions for a variety of people that we planned to interview, including past and present cheerleaders, cheer coaches and administrators, parents and athletes of other sports. When we had to find the contact information for individuals in all of those categories, reach out to them, and schedule a time, date and location for our interview. There were some that were thrilled about the video and were eager to help in any way that they could, and then there were others that informed us that they were not interested in participating. We then had to conduct and record those interviews, which, to me, was the most exciting part of this project. From there, it was a matter of uploading the files and then editing them into a final video. As of this blog post, the video is still under production.
This project was important for three primary reasons. Our video helped amplify the voices and opinions of high school and adult constituents of the district, it showed that there is some level of support among cheerleaders, and it gave Assemblywoman Gonzalez something she could show her lawmaking colleagues. As I mentioned earlier, we went out to conduct interviews with people across Chula Vista, which gave us the opportunity to listen to what constituents had to say about the bill, and more importantly, how they felt about it. This is when we got to hear people's opinions, and I was personally surprised by how much support this bill had from non cheerleaders. There were some juniors and seniors, male and female, not in cheer that knew about the bill, and that strongly supported it. Ultimately, the goal of this project was to produce something that Assemblywoman Gonzalez could take up to the capital to show, and say, "Look, this is why this bill is worthy of support, and constituents, at least in my district, do have favorable opinions about the bill." The Assemblywoman's ability to do that will be the factor that judges whether this project was a success or not.