On Tuesday, November 11th, Open Youth Networks member and grad of the 2007 YouthLAB Program - Zane Scheuerlein was awarded a Goldman Sachs Youth Prize for Excellence in International Education.

The Goldman Sachs Foundation and Asia Society partnered to create the Youth Prizes for Excellence in International Education, which are awarded to U.S. high school students, ages 14-18, who demonstrate an in-depth understanding of key issues in international affairs. On November 11, 2008, five U.S. high school students were awarded $10,000 college scholarships for proposing solutions to some of the world’s toughest challenges. The ceremony was held at the Waldorf Astoria in NY during the 2008 Annual Gala of the Asia Society. The 2008 competition asked students to create an in-depth written essay or multimedia feature examining a social or economic issue that has relevance to them in a global context.

Over 700 American teens from every state, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, addressed a wide range of political and humanitarian issues, including entries on the environment, peace and conflict, poverty, education, immigration, and many more.

In his video “Border Crossings” about environmental injustice in Chicago and a small border town in Mexico, Zane documented the effects of waste sites and industrial facilities on air pollution, employment, and public health in neighboring communities. Zane is interested in alternative media production, international relations and sociology.

Click here to see Zane’s video, Border Crossings.

Click here to see more photos of the event.

Click here to read a brief article in the Evanston Review.

Click here to read article/see video at Northwestern News Network

YouthLAB members, Ameenah Muhammad, Sadia Nawab and Zane Scheuerlein are now published authors. Their essay, TEN RADICAL THINGS ABOUT YOUTUBE, appears in Issue #5 of the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, a Los Angeles-based publication that aims to link radical aesthetics with political activisms.

Editors Marc Herbst and Christina Ulke approached the three youth after they presented their curated program YOUTUBE-SIZED at the 24/7 DIY Video Summit in Los Angeles, organized by Mimi Ito and Steve Anderson of the School of Cinematic Arts at USC. The editors were struck by the presentation which talked about the multiple and liberating effects of YouTube culture on the lives of youth.

Congratulations Ameenah, Sadia and Zane - not many teenagers can claim to be published in a national art journal.

Zane with Jonathan McIntosh and friend at the DIY Video Summit

Check out YouthLAB member Zane Scheuerlein’s video THE HIDDEN COST OF CASHMERE which is an official selection of the 2008 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

The video can also be seen and commented on at this link - Youth Media Exchange as well as at the AskAsia website where there is a brief discussion guide as well.

When it rains, it pours. Our video, The Cloud Factory by Open Youth Networks members, Marisol Becerra and Zane Scheuerlein screened at the Making Media Connections Conference and the Cine Youth Festival (Chicago), the How to Read a Film Conference (Berkeley) and the Allied Media Conference (Detroit) all during the same week.

The Cloud Factory is the riveting and moving story of how our own Marisol decided to confront the environmental racism in her Little Village neighborhood using technology as a tool in youth organizing through the amazing grassroots work of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. The video was funded by a grant from Listen Up and Adobe Youth Voices as part of an international television series called Beyond Green.

View our video now!