Future filmmakers brainstorming ideas at Berkeley High.
Credit: Courtesy of Allison Gamlen
In fourth grade, Nico Lee dressed up as Miss Hannigan, the heartless head of the orphanage in the classic Broadway musical “Annie,” for Halloween. He put together such a fabulous costume, bedecked in a dress, lipstick and a messy bun, that his mother worried her son might get teased. But she was also proud that he had no qualms about being playful about gender.
Nico Lee, one of the young filmmakers at Berkeley High School.Credit: Nico Lee
Now the thoughtful Berkeley 15-year-old, who grew up with two moms, digs into that formative memory and riffs on what it means to become a man today in his new short film exploring masculine tropes, “Changing Shapes.”
“One of the big ideas is finding your own identity in your own time,” Lee said. “It’s important to explore gender boundaries because if you are able to feel comfortable doing things that are outside of your gendered box, that opens up so much more freedom in how you express yourself. All that gender boundaries are is something that restricts people and separates them.”
Lee is one of seven Berkeley High School students getting their big break as part of the Future Filmmakers program, which mentors teens through the process of creating short documentary films, from the first rough cut to the red carpet premiere. This new, immersive video project culminated in a sold-out film festival at Berkeley’s Rialto Cinemas Elmwood.
“This kind of experience is rare,” said Allison Gamlen, visual and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Office of Education, who helped produce the festival. “The chance for high school students to truly tell their own stories, work with real professionals, and go through every step of the creative process, from idea to finished product, is amazing for them. This program builds not only technical and career skills, but also confidence, communication, and self-awareness.”
From cinematography and sound design to editing, the students are learning the ropes of filmmaking under the tutelage of documentarian Jordan Olshansky. The class includes Lee, Madison Chau, Derrick Coney, Oliver Hufford, Camila Reyes Mendez, Keely Shaller and Madeleine Wilson.
“I’ve never had an opportunity for kids like this one, where they’ve had long, sustained, in-depth, collaborative relationships with working professionals,” said Phil Halpern, a lead teacher in the communication arts and sciences program, which includes the video program, at Berkeley High. “You could equate it to an internship where you’re the CEO and that’s really cool.”
A peek inside the film/video classroom at Berkeley High School.credit: Phil Halpern
Lee, who has always loved theater and film, jumped at the chance to make a movie of his own. It was a considerable time commitment, and he admits he had doubts about whether his story was dramatic enough, but overall he found the experience invaluable. In the end, he learned to trust his gut.
“The hardest part of making this film was that I think the whole time there was sort of a big worry that I didn’t have a story to tell,” he admits. “I learned to be comfortable with that and tell the story that I did have, and hopefully that would connect with people.”
Confronting those fears is often part and parcel of the creative process.
“My favorite part is witnessing students discover the power of their voice and find the courage to tell their stories,” Gamlen said. “That moment they see their story on screen is transformative. They realize that their perspective is not only valid, it’s needed.”
Olshansky, a father of two teenagers, had always wanted to work with adolescents, but he wasn’t sure how many kids would want to commit to early morning workshops on Mondays before school. He needn’t have worried. Many students were eager to get their foot in the door of the film industry, long a pillar of the state’s creative economy.
“The vision is not only to help them develop their storytelling skills,” said Olshansky, president of San Francisco’s True Stories production company, “but also to share their films in ways that spark meaningful conversations among other young people — about identity, family, and other issues that matter most to them.”
One of the themes Lee wanted to explore was the power of influencers, such as Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan, to shape teen boys’ coming of age amid the rise of the manosphere.
“There’s a lot of stuff about toxic masculinity right now and about what masculinity means,” Lee said. “And I felt like maybe an interesting way to look at that was through what it’s like being a boy who was raised by women.”
All seven autobiographical short films hit hard, resonating with an authenticity that’s rare in the social media age. Camila Reyes Mendez crafts a heartrending valentine to her late mother in “Corazon Espinado.” Madison Chau examines feeling caught between two worlds in “Overseas Vietnamese.”
“The students share a huge range of life experiences,” said Gamlen, “dealing with parent death, deportation, divorce and blended families, leaving the nest to go to college, yet one theme that is emerging has to do with family and its impact on their lives.”
Young filmmaker Nico Lee shoots his autobiographical film.credit: Nico Lee
Lee’s mother, Becca, also had to venture outside her comfort zone because he interviewed his parents, as well as his grandparents, for the film.
“Honestly, I just felt so proud of him for wanting to dive into this topic and tell our family story,” she said. “But the part of it was being on camera, being in the film, that was a big stretch for me.”
Hands-on learning is the secret sauce for this project, with its unique blend of funding. The school’s video program is funded through Proposition 28 and Career Technical Education (CTE) money, while the Future Filmmakers project is paid for by Olshanky’s company, True Stories.
“We know that for most students, kinesthetic experiences make learning stick, when students are doing, not just watching or listening,” Gamlen said. “They’re holding the camera, adjusting the mic, recording their own interviews. And when it’s their own story on the line, they’re invested in every detail. That kind of ownership builds real-world readiness and pride in their work.”
Lee, for one, will never forget working side by side with a professional editor, learning what to cut and what to keep, the magic of how to craft a cinematic moment that sticks with the viewer.
“It’s one of the things that I feel most grateful for about this project,” he said. “It was pretty awesome to be able to experience that kind of collaboration. That was the first really gratifying moment for me, to see this thing that’s just been in my head actually be in a movie.”
Not all screen time is created equal, and how kids spend it, whether creatively or passively, can make all the difference.
For instance, young children who watch a “Bluey” episode or play a memory game with their parents can build new cognitive and social-emotional skills early in their development. Also, teenagers can and have used their online networks to engage with social media-based mental health resources before they feel confident enough to reach out to a counselor or therapist.
But as children and adolescents have become increasingly isolated from their support systems at home and at school — exacerbated during the Covid-19 pandemic — they have become more vulnerable to threats such as cyberbullying and predatory behavior online. Kids’ first line of defense, ultimately, is an adult who has earned their trust and is able to guide them when necessary.
According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, in 2022, 21.6% of students who were bullied said the bullying had happened online, a nearly 6 percentage-point jump from those reporting being bullied online in 2019. A 2021 survey by the National Crime Prevention Council found that only about a third of victims blocked their bully online, and only about a tenth told their parents about the incident.
New risks like AI-generated imagery and financial sexual extortion also contribute to the 87% increase in online child sexual abuse reports since 2019, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. As young children get online at earlier ages, preteens spend over half of their waking days on screens, and social media algorithms push harmful, addictive content to teen users, the threat of a dangerous interaction is often one unsolicited or derogatory message away.
Lawmakers and school administrators across the country are tackling online safety and well-being with policies such as banning cellphones in schools and restricting addictive algorithms on children and teenagers’ social media feeds. For Fareedah Shaheed, a children’s online safety expert, prevention and intervention start with the adults — parents, teachers and school counselors — interacting with kids on a daily basis.
Children’s online safety expert and consultant Fareedah Shaheed.
“I see the real change in those interpersonal relationships between (educators) and parents, people exchanging information they can use to start talking to (each other),” Shaheed told school administrators, counselors, teachers and advocates at a student wellness conference. “I believe the biggest impact is on the ground.”
EdSource interviewed Shaheed about her experiences and how adults can help keep young people safe online. Her remarks have been edited for length and clarity.
What can students learn about online safety from your early internet experiences?
When I was 13, I got my first smartphone. I started playing mobile games and talking to strangers online. I had a near miss with an online predator. I was (planning on) meeting someone at 16, when he was 40 years old. I was a very private teenager, and I kept my online life secret. So the only reason why I told my mom, ‘Hey, I’m just going to meet this guy that I met at an online game in the park,’ was because I was her only child, and I felt like it was the mature thing to tell her where I was going. But I wasn’t asking her for permission because she would’ve said no.
She knew that this was really serious if I was telling her this, because she knew I was a very private person. But she didn’t ask to look into my phone. And instead of her taking away my phone, getting upset with me, she just wanted to know, ‘Who’s this person? What’s his name? Why did you connect? Why do you like him? Why do you want to meet?’ And that changed my entire life because she came to me as an experienced friend, and I decided I did not want to go. That conversation saved me. From those experiences being groomed online and talking to strangers as a kid, I went into cybersecurity and threat intelligence, and I started doing workshops with organizations to raise awareness and then create some actionable impact on internet safety for kids.
What concerns about online safety do you hear from parents, educators and school counselors?
I hear a lot of stories about cyberbullying, kids talking to strangers online, being addicted to social media and making comparisons (online.) The hardest stories to hear are when parents lose their children. They lose their child through suicide, or they lose their child’s (trust) to someone targeting them. I heard from one parent that her son, who was groomed as a (child), was now grooming another child. The mental turmoil that she went through as a parent completely took her out. She came back from that, and told me her son is in therapy now (unpacking) his own history of abuse. She’s looking back at her life and retracing her steps as a parent, thinking, “What the hell did I do wrong?”
I advise parents to prioritize safe spaces, accountability, fun and empathy to protect kids online. We also have discussions over time about mental health resources and helping kids create a community around a shared problem, such as an after-school program for kids experiencing bullying. Many school counselors can also have a closer relationship with the student only because there is that degree of separation of, “You’re not my parent, and you’re not trying to control my life.” In certain circumstances, counselors have an easier time becoming the experienced friend role.
How have these threats, such as cyberbullying, grooming and sextortion, changed since you first used the internet?
We would always tell kids, “Don’t share pictures of yourself with other people, especially strangers,” right? Now you have AI (artificial intelligence). We’re at a point where it doesn’t matter if you don’t share (photos), someone can create something that looks real. I didn’t grow up with that. That’s a whole different ballgame. So I believe we have to act like everyone has been in this situation — anyone can experience extortion — and have mental health (resources) for those who are experiencing or experience this at some point.
New developments like AI can often feel inaccessible to parents and educators. How can adults protect kids if they don’t entirely understand the threat in the first place?
You don’t have to know more than your kids to protect them. You don’t have to be tech-savvy to protect them. You don’t have to know all the new slang to protect your kids, because what predators want are parents staying in the darkness. When you’re thinking about sextortion, AI, cyberbullying, predatory behavior, inappropriate content, screen time, all of these things rely on one domino effect. If you research the predatory handbook for targeting kids on Roblox or Minecraft, they’re not saying, “We want parents who don’t understand technology or the newest thing.” They’re saying, “We want parents who don’t know what their kids are going through emotionally.” They want parents who themselves struggle with mental illness, lack support or resources and feel isolated. That’s why the resources that will help protect kids are also support for parents — financial, self-care, mental health. That’s what matters more than parents knowing the latest thing.
Can school cellphone bans help protect kids online?
I believe there’s a better way to do it. Schools are trying to introduce something new to solve a huge problem, and I do believe that it’s necessary, but I don’t believe “ban” is the best term. I think “policy” is the best term. I believe schools have to have the students be part of the decision, otherwise it’s going to create a lot of friction. If the students are part of the decision, you understand how students are using the cellphone and how they can use it in a way that’s according to the policy and what’s best for them.
Many students don’t approach school counselors about their online problems, and many might not recognize that online interaction could be unsafe or outside the norm. In that case, how can schools better identify the issue and intervene?
Schools can help by giving them the tools to solve a problem that they don’t see, because the adults are not in control of what happens. Counselors can provide educational programs about mental health resources, talking through online scenarios and explaining the tools (students) can use to deal with a situation so that they can, one, identify it for themselves, and then two, know how to self-regulate. They can slowly work themselves out of the situation, whether it’s removing themselves from the relationship, blocking somebody, reporting somebody — no one has to know. Sometimes you can remove yourself from a situation and not have to talk to somebody about it. There should be resources for them when they need to talk about it and provide that support, but it’s also about making it normal to have those conversations in school, letting them hear different stories from other people, teaching them red flags and how to identify their own discomfort.
Can online threats present differently, especially for students in marginalized communities?
[A 2022 survey found that Black teens are about twice as likely as Hispanic or white teenagers to say they were targeted online for their race. Teenagers who identify as part of the LGBTQ community also face more harassment online related to their identities, including hateful language or sexual victimization, and have been found to be more susceptible to cyberbullying.]
Whether it was being a Black gamer girl online or posting on social media as a Black girl, I spent my entire childhood being bullied for being Black and for being the only Black girl in classes a lot of the time. It’s harder for kids from these backgrounds to have the tools and support systems to deal with the (bullying). So if there are other minority or underrepresented communities, they can also have that community at school. I’ve seen schools that have groups like Black Gamer Girl clubs — these five students that meet every Thursday after school, for example — that are really helpful for their mental health and for them to feel safe online. Schools can also have classes that serve them, in particular by giving them tools to deal with bullying, having conversations about what they see online if they’re creating content, how they make sense of someone saying something horrible about them, and then how to walk through that and emotionally regulate.
Teenagers also seek emotional support and information about their identities online. How can they identify the line between dangerous interactions and ones that might feel new and uncertain — and a little uncomfortable for parents — but might also help them feel more secure in themselves?
[For example, transgender and queer students often find acceptance in online communities known to reduce reports of depression and suicidal thoughts in LGBTQ youth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many reported being stuck at home with unsupportive parents, flocking to online communities for acceptance.]
It’s so much better for your child to be involved in communities that you may be uncomfortable with when you’re there to support them, even in your discomfort, than for your child to go behind your back and not tell you and get a burner phone. Most of the time, the community that your child is connecting with online is going to be OK, so long as they have your support and someone to talk to. It becomes dangerous when the parent or caretaker can’t be involved because the child thinks that they can’t share their experiences.
I loved anime. I loved cosplaying. I loved gaming. And the online world has a lot of communities that understand you, you feel safe and that you’re in a non-judgmental space. But then, when you go to school or are with your parents or friends who are outside that space, they might make you feel like you’re different or too much or too little or weird. The reason why I started talking to strangers wasn’t because I love talking to strangers, but because I didn’t feel accepted elsewhere. If you’re a teenager and you’re worried about your best friend speaking with older strangers online, for example, the best thing you can do is stay in their life in whatever capacity is safe for you. When something happens, you can be there for them in whatever capacity you have and help them out of that situation.
What advice do you have for educators and parents trying to introduce young children to the online world in a positive way?
When children are younger than 7 or 8, it’s all about play and their association with you and play, being there with them in the environment, eye contact and engaging with them. Sensical, from Common Sense, is a great organization that has screen time suggestions based on age that are fun and joyful. As children get older, (parents and educators) can start introducing more teaching concepts. For some digital literacy resources and activities, you have FBI Safe Online Surfing, Google’s Be Internet Awesome and Net Smartz Kids. Fun is one of the most underrated ways to protect kids online and help them with screen time too. It doesn’t matter if the online activity is the greatest activity in the world, if a teacher is stressed out, in what way can you find fun in the activity? For early educators like preschool teachers and kindergarten teachers, anytime I do a workshop with a school, I ask, “What do you need? What are you seeing? What is your capacity? What is the kids’ capacity? What are their ages, their background?” Then, we create something customized for them. But (educators) shouldn’t shy away from technology.
A poster at Oakland High School encourages 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the school board election. These posters are displayed throughout the campus.
Credit: Andrew Reed / EdSource
While the upcoming presidential election crowds voters’ minds, a new demographic will be casting their ballots for the first time this November. Both the cities of Berkeley and Oakland announced in August that 16 and 17-year-old constituents are now eligible to vote in local school board races.
Berkeley voters approved Measure Y in 2016 by just over 70% of the vote. In Oakland, Measure QQ — which indicates similar youth voting stipulations as its Berkeley counterpart — was approved in 2020 with 68% of the vote.
Years after the approval, continued community advocacy from organizations like Oakland Kids First has helped push the Alameda County Registrar of Voters to finalize a system to register 16- and 17-year-old voters.
At a school board candidate forum on Oct. 22 hosted by Fremont High School and organized by Oakland Youth Vote, students, teachers, administrators, organizers and school board candidates from Oakland Unified School District gathered to register voters and learn more about the candidates running in local school board contests.
Nearly all the school board candidates from districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 were present, and each was given a chance to introduce themselves and discuss their priorities and platforms within a time-limited format moderated by students from Fremont High School.
After the student moderators and administrators gave introductions and explanations on registration, voting and the school board, the moderators emphasized the importance of voting in making student voices heard. They cited the efforts of community organizations like the Oakland Youth Commission and Californians for Justice in their success.
Organizers and candidates spoke to students at the Oakland Youth Voting Forum on Oct. 22.Credit: Emily Hamill / EdSource
“Your vote has the power to bring us closer to your vision and make your dream a reality,” said a student moderator. “This makes history, but it was only possible because we have been fighting for the last five years. We have earned this — it is a right.”
Forum presenters highlighted what they considered the most important issues to Oakland students — access to health and wellness, community-centered schools, and essential life skills — all of which outlined concerns from over 1,400 student survey forms gathered from across the district.
The remainder of the forum consisted of the student moderators asking the candidates questions about how they plan to represent student concerns for equitable resource distribution, holistic mental health and wellness checks, school safety and budget deficits.
Oakland Tech senior Ariana Astorga Vega and sophomore Amina Tongun, both members of the All City Council, or the ACC, attended the forum and emphasized the importance of students using their newfound voting rights, which are limited to the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD board races. The ACC is made up of 11 peer-elected high school students to represent student concerns to OUSD.
“Even though I can’t vote yet because I have not turned 16, I’m here as a part of the ACC to support the local youth vote,” Tongun said. “I feel like it’s really special because we get to vote as young people and our voices are being heard. That’s one of the main reasons that I joined the ACC, because I really believe in advocating for young people and helping their voices be heard.”
Vega echoed Tongun’s opinion about the new voting rights, and her appreciation for being able to be “a part of that change.”
The two have also been involved in the ACC’s efforts to encourage youth voting, including streamlining social media posts about it and putting up fliers reading “Breaking News: 16-17 year-olds can now vote!” across district’s schools.
Although they have run into obstacles, like student disinterest due to not knowing how to vote and what the implications are, Vega and Tongun hope their community’s continued efforts to raise awareness and education will motivate their peers to take action.
Maya Rapier, an organizer with Oakland Kids First, who also attended the forum, has been committed to the purpose. By helping distribute voter registration forms, spread awareness about the forum, and even implement a new voting curriculum into OUSD schools, Rapier said the organization has helped the district register over 1,000 student voters.
“I genuinely feel like Oakland is such a beautiful place with such a beautiful community of voters who deserve so much, but there’s a history here of students being underserved and under-resourced,” Rapier said. “Students know their own experiences best, so for them to be able to be in the schools real-time, notice an issue, take that to the representative, and know that they have the power to bring attention to it, means a lot.”
Rapier added, “I’m a former student of OUSD, and I’m really inspired by the students here and the work that they’ve been doing.”
Fremont High School Principal Nidya Baez echoed these sentiments, expressing that her student body “feels responsible” for representing families and community members who cannot vote. She has worked to help “eliminate (obstacles like) the fear factor” by partnering with local coalitions to organize class presentations, lunchtime tabling and events like the candidate forum.
At Berkeley High School (BHS), students, with faculty help, have spearheaded youth voter registration and education. On Oct. 8, students from the BHS Civic Leaders Club organized a school board candidate forum with assistance from John Villavicencio, the director of student activities. The students invited the candidates to speak at the high school and allowed time for students to ask questions.
Villavicencio added that other BHS student organizations have led efforts in encouraging students to register to vote and done the groundwork by taking mail-in voter registration forms to classrooms. He also noted efforts from Josh Daniels, a former member of both the Oakland and Berkeley unified school district boards, who organized a weekly Zoom call between student leaders, student organizations and nonprofits in support of the youth vote to discuss efforts in their respective school districts.
During one weekly meeting, Oakland Youth Vote shared a curriculum members had put together detailing what the school board does, introducing the OUSD school board, emphasizing the importance of youth voting and assisting in registering students to vote.
After hearing about the curriculum Oakland Youth Vote created, Villavicencio encouraged Berkeley to create something similar. BHS teacher librarian Allyson Bogie offered to help, and created a shortened two-day curriculum tailored to Berkeley Unified. After review from the superintendent’s office, student leaders, teachers and administrators, the curriculum was shared with teachers who could use it in their classrooms.
“I wanted to make sure any teachers who wanted a tool to talk about youth voting, and getting kids registered, and the history of it, had something really easy to use,” Bogie said. “I believe it’s important for kids to vote, and I want to support the teachers, and that’s part of my role as a librarian.”
According to Villavicencio, there have been several hurdles to overcome in convincing students to register, and to understand why this opportunity is special. Some students did not know their own Social Security numbers, complicating the registration process, while others have never heard of the school board or don’t know what the school board does, making it difficult to teach students about the impact of their vote.
Villavicencio said they could “easily reach 1,000 pre-registration” out of about 1,800 potential BHS students who could register to vote. As of Oct. 22, 491 students were registered, leaving him “slightly disappointed,” he said.
“(Some students) are very passionate about activism and also engaging in the community,” Villavicencio said, but the overall sentiment is “lukewarm.” Bogie noted that she doesn’t think students view it negatively but has noticed a lot of students who also “aren’t that interested.”
Looking forward, Bogie hopes to see “continuing student momentum” for future elections.
“It’s commendable, what’s being done,” Villavicencio said. “And it’s crazy to say that there could be a lot more done.”
Emily Hamill is a third-year student at UC Berkeley double-majoring in comparative literature and media studies and minoring in journalism. Kelcie Lee is a second-year student at UC Berkeley majoring in history and sociology. Both are members of EdSource’s California Student Journalism Corps.
California Student Journalism Corps member Jo Moon, a junior at UC Berkeley studying political economy, gender and women’s studies and Korean, contributed to this story.
