Lights … Camera … A Fun Summer!

Asked by interviewers to demonstrate a hidden talent, rising Wilbur Cross senior Shelagh Laverty touched her tongue to the tip of her nose.

The group was practicing man-on-the-street interview techniques at a media production camp at Quinnipiac University. Rather than asking strangers policy questions, however, the teens asked their classmates to show off talents, jokes and victory dances.

“I like that this opportunity is coming from New Haven. These camps often cost a lot of money that students don’t have. I think it’s terrible that something like that hinders them from the potential of what they could be,” Laverty said.

Laverty is one of 14 New Haven students selected to attend the Quinnipiac University School of Communications’ Ability Media camp for free, thanks to coronavirus relief dollars. Gov. Ned Lamont dedicated $11 million overall from the American Rescue Plan to summer programs targeted to those most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Haven Promise selected low-income, public school students to fill the spots in the program covered by this extra aid. Because families can opt into New Haven Promise from sixth grade, the scholarship program is in touch with thousands of students from all over New Haven and can send out targeted opportunities like this one.

An additional four students are paying $2,400 to attend the camp.

Laverty is the daughter of a New Haven teacher and has attended New Haven Public Schools since she was 3 years old. The high schooler has felt stressed and confused about what to do after she graduates.

“I felt like all the walls were closing in on me,” Laverty said.

Adults tried to comfort her that she had time to decide her career path. She didn’t feel clarity, though, until coming to the Quinnipiac summer camp.

Laverty stepped into the communications school’s audio and video control room, with buttons and expensive equipment all around her. She learned that she needs to control only as many switches as she had microphones — so two switches were enough. She learned how to raise the microphone sensitivity for quiet speakers and tone down the volume for loud speakers.

Laverty realized that media is where she belongs.

“We live in a world based on information. We need people to give us that information,” Laverty said.

Laverty spent Friday with rising New Haven academy junior Mia Ward and rising Conte West Hills seventh grader Sara Valladares. The group is working on a music video about being yourself and shedding self-doubt.

The group took a break from drawing out scenes and finding locations for the music video to answer interview questions from Meryem Bostanci. Bostanci, 17 years old, hails from New York.

Jyce Relaford, a rising freshman at High School in the Community, guided the camera, practicing the director role they want in the future.

Meanwhile, rising John C. Daniels seventh grader Liam Blessing practiced the questions he would ask rising Common Ground junior Matthew La Rose about how video games can affect epilepsy.

The interview segment is exactly the kind of project the camp hopes students will produce. The Ability Media program within Quinnipiac Media focuses on training people with disabilities to enter the communications workforce and provide a voice for an often marginalized minority.

Quinnipiac professor in residence Dave Stevens founded the media program and is leading the camp. Stevens was born without legs, given up for adoption and raised by a poor, loving family. After moving frequently in his youth, he became a varsity athlete in Arizona on the Augsburg College football, baseball and wrestling teams. He also worked at ESPN for over 20 years and won seven Emmys in sports producing.

This is the first year of the Ability Media summer camp. Stevens hopes to continue in future years, though it is unclear whether there will be state support beyond this summer.

Some students did not realize that there would be a disability focus to the camp. Relaford, for example, learned after they started the camp. They are excited about the focus as a way to support people, like members of their own family, who have disabilities.

The camp is a uniquely inspiring place for La Rose, who has epilepsy. La Rose has never been somewhere that so emphasizes the potential of people with disabilities.

Plus, it’s a fun way to spend a summer that would otherwise be boring.

“I learned how to set up a tripod and a camera. I had no clue how to do that,” La Rose said.