If you follow Wide Angle Youth Media’s blog, you might have seen our recent spotlight on Middle School students in our Baltimore Speaks Out (BSO) program. While reading the personal stories of Peymaan, Natalie and Sue, you might have reflected on your own formative middle school experiences.

I recall my own middle school years as a significantly impactful time of forming identity and belonging. As a 6th grader, my family relocated from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Birmingham, Alabama. As many middle schoolers do, I navigated this time with a heightened awareness of ways I was different, and ways I could try to fit in. I also held the opinions of my peers in high regard, fearful of doing anything embarrassing. Personal identity is complex, and exploring your unseen inner life requires vulnerability and safety - two qualities that can feel hard to come by genuinely in many middle school classrooms.

Not too long ago, the current design apprentices and myself were assigned a task, aptly titled ‘Where Are the Black Designers?’ Our goal was to research a Black designer and do a 10 minute presentation on them. It was a project that was two parts inspiration and two parts intersectionality; it was beyond empowering to see designers that look and identify themselves the way that I do.

This fall, we’re shining a spotlight on our younger students through our First Exposure campaign to support 72 middle school students in our Baltimore Speaks Out (BSO) program. In this blog post, we’re hitting rewind with three staff members to learn how they discovered media in middle school and where it’s taken them.

Get to know Susan Malone (Executive Director) and our two newest program staff, Peymaan Motevalli-Aliabadi (Administrative & Operations Manager) and Natalie Thomas (BSO Assistant Media Instructor) as they take a walk down memory lane.

Charday Hall - she/her pronouns - is a Wide Angle Board member, Parent Representative, and former Wide Angle participant, teacher and staff member. She has been an advocate for Baltimore's youth for more than nineteen years. She brings more than twenty years of non-profit experience as an Event Coordinator, Public Speaker, Grant Writer, and Media Instructor. She is a Healthcare Provider for Johns Hopkins Hospital, Entrepreneur, and Mother to one amazing son.

Hello! We hope you learned a little about us interns from our social media intern introductory post. We’re excited to share various topics and happenings with you while remaining fun and engaging. Our main goal is to inspire young people to do what they enjoy and to share their thoughts freely without judgement and fear.

This past month we have been hard at work creating content for some of October’s holidays and important events. These included Indigenous Peoples’ Day, National Coming Out Day, and the National Workers Strike. Read on to learn about our process creating these posts.

With covid-19 among us and classes becoming virtual, students find themselves trapped at home causing them to lose access to school meals. Some are afraid to admit it, but there are students who rely on school breakfast and lunch to have enough to eat everyday. I myself was one of those students. Alongside Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) we created something that would destigmatize and increase participation and flexibility for school meal operations. Wide Angle’s Design Apprentice team partnered with BCPS to design a logo, vehicle wrap, and social media advertising for a food truck. My job specifically was to design their logo. I began on paper taking the name ideas we had and basing the designs around them.

Not a lot of people are aware of what Black August is and why we celebrate it. If you’re one of those people allow us to introduce you. Black August originated in the California penal system to honor fallen Freedom Fighters, who we now know as the San Quentin Six, who were accused of participating in an August 21, 1971 escape attempt that left six people dead, including George Jackson, a co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family.

This spring Wide Angle’s Design Studio had the pleasure of working with Healing City Baltimore and Baltimore Neighbors Network. Healing City Baltimore strives to bring communities together via discourse, urging people to embrace their neighbors regardless of their differences. One of their initiatives is Baltimore Neighbors Network, which was created during COVID to connect senior Baltimore residents to resources and community.