Destin teen to use media for civil rights awareness

Jessica Best has no ordinary routine. She goes to school in her pajamas and now she has plans to fight for civil rights via the World Wide Web.

A sophomore through Florida Virtual School, Jessica has been residing in Miramar Beach since shortly after Hurricane Ivan.

She will be leaving Destin this week when she and her mother, Signe, move back to Oklahoma, but she will be taking a new mission with her that she acquired from her stint as a Florida Virtual student.

For Colleen Brandao’s global studies course, Jessica made a video using Windows Movie Maker that was a review of what she had learned in the class. She learned about globalization in the sense of the economic, cultural, technological and political influences that countries have on one another.

To watch the video, click here.

When Brandao saw the quality of her work, she recommended Jessica for the DOTCOM initiative. DOTCOM is the acronym for Developing Online Tools for Civic Outreach and Mobilization. The program teaches students to “gain media literacy skills and create socially conscious media that will impact communities.”

“It’s getting kids from Armenia, America and Azerbaijan to work together on civil rights,” Jessica said.

DOTCOM students depict issues through the lens of media, ultimately creating their own documentaries, digital stories, short films, public service announcements and other media for distribution internationally.

Jessica said that videos made by DOTCOM students will be posted on Youtube.com and other networking sites to raise awareness of civil rights issues.

Elizabeth Métraux, the DOTCOM program director in Waitsfield, Vt., told The Log that students take on issues that directly affect youth or matter to young people in their everyday lives.

“This could be as broad as global warming and international conflict, or as specific and ‘local’ as stereotyping, discrimination, etc., looking at how the media portrays those important issues and how students can use the media to motivate change on those issues,” Métraux explained.

Jessica hopes to hone in on freedom of religion and the stripping of human rights in other countries. Through her unusual education, she is learning to combine her talents and passion for humanitarian work to carve out a unique high school experience.

“With Jessica’s experience as a young leader in her community, I’m eager to learn from her as we decode media messages and explore ways to inspire meaningful change in our world,” Métraux said.

The Log has been running into more Florida Virtual School students who normally take advantage of the flexible scheduling to pursue a specific dream. But Jessica finds it a practical alternative for the average teen as well.

“I definitely like to do it, because it gives me more time to do other things like go to church and help out there more,” Jessica said.

After she graduates, she plans to attend technical school to learn engineering technology to develop new avenues for cleaner energy.

“I’m very fortunate that she’s so self-motivated,” Signe said. “She does it all on her own, really.”

Home schooling began for Jessica in the third grade.

“A lot of people were concerned she would not learn social skills,” Signe said, adding that Jessica has a lot of friends and stays very busy.

“I can’t keep up with all of it,” Signe said.