Student sea level project to air on WPBT

Maria C. Serrano/Staff Writer

maria.serrano@fiusm.com

Spearheaded by University students, a project on sea level rise will soon be broadcasted on television.

The project, titled “Eyes on the Rise,” was completed by students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and will be broadcasted by WPBT and YouTube.

Work on the sea level rise project started when the documentary “South Florida’s Rising Seas,” produced by University journalism professors Katherine MacMillin and Juliet Pinto, aired on WPBT in January 2014.

After the program aired, MacMillin and Pinto worked on the project with two other University professors, Susan Jacobson and Ted Gutsche Jr., to apply for the “2014-2015 Challenge Fund for Innovation in Journalism Education” micro-grant.

The professors were awarded $35,000 from the micro-grant and the University became one of thirteen colleges to have obtained the grant.

Among the organizations that provide the funding for the grant are the Online News Association, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, the Excellence and Ethics in Journalism Foundation and the Rita Allen Foundation and the Democracy Fund.

“We created a project titled eyesontherise.org and we set out to create new curricula for the SJMC that would become the beginning of new classes on how to communicate sea level rise,” MacMillin said. “Since my background is in television production I thought we should try to collaborate with WPBT.”

On the project, the professors allowed groups of students to select and work on a sub-topic of sea level rise to document it using science-based journalism in multimedia platforms.

“During my drive to FIU’s Biscayne Bay Campus, I saw some street flooding in North Miami Beach Boulevard and stopped to take pictures and uploaded them to the website of the project,” said Luis Castro, a senior majoring in journalism.

In MacMillin’s discussion with WPBT’s representatives, if the product from the students came out well, WBPT could upload it to the station’s YouTube site.

“Many of the students did not know before how to edit or shoot. [The students] took it on with such professionalism and such enthusiasm,” MacMillin said.

After parts of the students’ pieces were done, the material was shown to Max Duke, vice president of content for WPBT.

After the meeting, the idea was to create a YouTube video with each of the pieces shown to him.

In addition, Duke suggested that MacMillin do a half-hour program in primetime at the end of April with the best pieces.

Students offered their opinions, citing that projects like these provide real-world experience.

“I think that any work at school is encouraging because it gives you experience to apply in the many aspects outside of school,” said Angela Abdala, a senior journalism and marketing major.

By airing the product of the effort of the students, WPBT creates awareness for other students who are not aware of the consequences of sea level rise.

“As for now, I am not concerned at all about sea level rise because I am not aware of the situation as much as I should,” Abdala said.

Others, on the other hand, are worried about the issue.

“I am concerned with sea level rise,” Castro said. “I live in an area of Kendall that is prone to flooding.”

The YouTube series will be uploaded by the middle of November and the half-hour program will air at the end of April.

“Many of us feel the responsibility to help educate our public and the student. By educating the students we are having them educate their families and communities about the impact of sea level rise,” MacMillin said.