Schools

Kent Stark Environmental Media Class Strengthens Ties Throughout Stark County

The inaugural class brought together Stark County colleges and universities and looked at how Kent State Stark could reach the community in a new way

 inaugural — which pulled together 11 students with backgrounds ranging from journalism to biology and video production and tasked them with producing short videos about environmental issues facing the Nimishillen Creek Watershed — was anything but a flop.

The class, geared toward junior- and senior-level students, will take place again next spring. And why wouldn’t it? In addition to the students giving it a thumbs-up, the class spawned several collaborations with Kent Stark and the other colleges and universities throughout Stark County, said Penny Bernstein, associate professor of biological sciences.

Bernstein spoke before about 80 people inside the Joseph Saxton Gallery in Canton Thursday evening at the Herbert W. Hoover Foundation reception. (The class came about through a grant relationship between the campus and foundation, which funds projects related to the community, education and environment.)

One student group focused their video on fracking — or horizontal hydraulic fracturing to obtain natural gas that because of safety concerns — and Bernstein said more could come from that in the form of internships.

“Several (campuses) could collaborate on a grant to Herbert W. Hoover to monitor fracking areas to see what’s going on there now and be able to say why they shouldn’t go to that area (to drill),” she said.

Everyone got a chance to see the student-made films that day as they walked around the gallery. Four student groups showed their films on large TVs and talked with those in attendance, which included Kent State Stark officials and other community stakeholders.

(You can watch the students’ films, too, through the Our Water Webs website.)

Cynthia Williams, public relations coordinator at Kent State Stark, said next year’s class also will take place in the spring semester and maintain the same number of students — about a dozen.

“(The class) is quite innovative,” Williams said. “Plus, it’s something that brings exposure and awareness to issues in our environment, and it lets people know how they can help.”

Derek Wholihan, a sophomore public communication major from Canton, said that’s what he and his group tried to portray in their video — simple ways the everyday citizen could help. Their video took a personal approach, with Wholihan talking directly to the camera as a concerned citizen.

“None of the other videos were focused on what you’re doing as a citizen,” he said. “But ours was ‘what are we doing as people that cause these problems and the small steps we can take to fix it.'”

Josh Quiros, a freshman electronic video production major from Green, thought about what he might tell other students who are interested in taking the class next year.

“I don’t want to sound cliche and say ‘Expect the unexpected,’ but that’s pretty much it,” he said.

Quiros said his class partner was better at the communication side of the class, whereas he had a better handle on the video production. He suggested students who take the class next try to also know their roles as well as their partners’ roles the best they can.

“It gets a little complicated," he said. "It gets a little messy, but I think we pulled it together pretty well."

David Smeltzer, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, also screened what he called the “shell” of a video he hopes to show at a Canton film festival and later on public television.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from North Canton