On Monday 18th December, our Into the Mix Social Action projects came to an end at Manchester Metropolitan University. It will be super difficult to summarise the creativity, hard work and pure wholesome-ness of the day we had, but here’s to trying!
Longdendale High School, Hyde High School and Rayner Stephens High School all made an early start to get to the Brooks building for an action packed day. After being briefed by Beth in the lecture hall, they made their way upstairs where PIE had taken over much of the second floor.
The students began a carousel of activities that enhanced their social action projects further and encouraged them to think more deeply about how to design a more effective campaign. The merchandise room was a flurry of activity – t-shirt designing, placard making, water bottle creating, bracelet producing doesn’t even cover half of what the young people got involved in! Thanks to Jen from MakeBuildGrow for supporting the students to unlock their creative flair!
In the content creation room there were stop motion videos being developed, memes being generated and even some TikTok dances being performed! The creativity doesn’t stop there...just next door Lee had students writing their own songs and playing musical instruments. If this wasn’t difficult enough in itself, they were all tailored to their campaigns! The young people also had a chance to take part in a photography workshop with Saz Media, using professional cameras and improving their digital skills.
Meanwhile, a select lucky group of students spent the day with Vic from MIC Media creating podcasts about their Into The Mix journey. We can’t wait to hear the finished product!
The day ended with us all returning to the lecture hall to hear the presentations that students had been working on throughout the entire day – summarising the impact of their projects. The students were an excellent audience for each other and the songs produced created an uplifting atmosphere. A perfect end to the day!
Thank you to the students and teachers for their dedication to the project and their hard work, support and organisation! We also couldn’t have done this day without all the volunteers that supported, shared wisdom and encouraged the students. We hope you got as much out of the day as we did! And finally thank you to Manchester Met University for hosting this incredible day and giving students the invaluable experience of working in a university building.Â
