Kelly in the news… Source:http://www.masslive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2009/04/bay_path_college_filmmakers_pu.html
Bay Path College film makers put a rewarding focus on Girls Inc. of Holyoke
by Republican teen editor
Tuesday April 14, 2009, 5:10 AM
“It is not just about making a promotional film to get money. It is about showing the heart and soul of the organization.” – -John C. Jarvis
By ANNE-GERARD FLYNN
aflynn@repub.com
It’s only 16 minutes of images, but two films by John C. Jarvis’ students at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, have helped raised over the last two years more than $350,000 for Girls Inc., a nonprofit in Holyoke that offers a variety of programs for girls from five to 18 years of age.
Jarvis’ students have been at work on another eight-minute film that Janna Chapdelaine, director of development and public relations for Girls Inc., hopes will raise $100,000 when it is shown at a potential donors breakfast April 16 from 8 to 9 a.m. at the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“The breakfast is our biggest fund raiser and the film is the introduction. We want to make them laugh and cry and get them connected. The Bay Path students do a fantastic job and there are so many neat things involved for our girls.
The students get to be mentors without even knowing it and the girls get to see successful women in college doing what they love. It is setting the stage for the girls,” said the 23-year-old Chapdelaine who is a 2006 graduate of Bay Path.
The collaboration between Bay Path, a private college open only to women at the undergraduate level, and Girls Inc. was originally suggested by Caron T. Hobin.
Hobin is the college’s vice president for planning and student development and is a long-time board member of Girls Inc.
“Girls Inc. decided to do a new fund-raising model three years that would tell in one hour everything about the mission and what the organization does day in and day out. We thought a video would convey this but when prices from companies started to come in, they were steep.
I suggested it was a project our communications department would actually relish for the great hands-on experience and the management then met with John Jarvis and his students have been doing it ever since,” Hobin said.
Jarvis, who is professor of English and communications, said making the videos has proven “ideal” for his students and a “wonderful community collaboration.”
A Wal-Mart College Success Award to the college funded by a grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation allows students to be paid for their work.
“The students spend 80 hours going out and filming the girls and boiling it down to eight minutes. The students become very committed to helping the girls. It is a beautifully creative production project. It is not just about making a promotional film to get money. It is about showing the heart and soul of the organization,” Jarvis said.
Alexandra E. Putnam, one of Jarvis’ students from Topsfield, called working on the film “a pleasure” and credits the academic and recreational programs of Girls Inc., which is part of a national organization known until 1991 as the Girls Club, with keeping the passion “every little girl has inside alive.”
Other students, all freshmen and sophomores, who worked on this year’s film include Carli M. Flanagan from Whitman, Kay Holmes from Whitinsville, Kelly M. MacIntyre from Agawam, Molly O’Brien-Moore from Springfield, and Kimberly Sciarretta from Windsor Locks, Conn.
The films have have different themes. The first year focused on the spirit of the girls, the second success and this year’s video features the girls writing letters to the world for support. Several dozen participants from Girls Inc. will be at the breakfast including Vanessa Mascowski, 10, and Julisa DeLeon, 16, who will speak.
Below are excerpts from three letters.
My name is Genesis and I am 10 years old. When I grow up I want to be a medical assistant. I want to get a college diploma. I want to live in a neighborhood that’s not violent. I want peace on earth. I want my mom to always be happy and also my three brothers and my dad.
Rock the position of being you. Be yourself and love the way you live.
LOVE yourself and also your bodies just the way they are and don’t destroy them for someone who cares nothing about you.
Don’t lose your life for anything.
Don’t give up without trying.
Twelve-year-old writer
I feel like an outsider for about 90 percent of my life. Girls Inc. makes the 10 percent worth the time I get.
I can be my unique self without worrying about what people will say. Here at Girls Inc., I’m not restricted to a tiny box of possibility.
I’m happily granted with the world’s options. I feel free in a way that I can’t really explain. Girls Inc. reminds me the hard work and frustrating reality I go through every day will be worth it in the end.
Fifteen-year-old writer
IF YOU GO: Event: Third Spirit of Girls Breakfast
When: April 16, 8 – 9 a.m.
Where: Basketball Hall of Fame, 1000 West Columbus Ave. Springfield
Cost: Free but call to register
For more info:Call (413) 532-6247, Ext. 104
Online: www.girlsincholyoke.org
