Oyster Bay Students Create Videos For PSEG Long Island

EAST NORWICH, NY — Dozens of James H. Vernon School students spent part of their spring semester under quarantine as producers, actors, cinematographers, videographers and video editors. They learned about energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable resources to make short public service announcements for Public Service Enterprise Group Long Island's "I Am EM-Powered!" PSA project.

What began as a contest designed by PSEG Long Island for the 50th anniversary of Earth Day quickly transformed in March when schools were closed and classroom learning moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, a handful of teachers from the 35 schools that had signed up to participate in the PSA program, including Oyster Bay-East Norwich, moved forward with the project.

"The topics of conserving natural resources, reducing dependency on fossil fuels and seeking renewable energy sources are paramount, especially to this generation," said Suzanne Brienza, PSEG Long Island director of customer experience and utility marketing. "We are so pleased that, despite the unusual circumstances the coronavirus pandemic created for educators, some still were able to apply the lessons of our Earth Day Public Service Announcement video contest to engage students in being advocates for protecting and saving the earth."

Fifth-grade science and math teacher Frank Sommo had embraced the project from the start. More than 50 of his students submitted short public service announcement videos, including 11-year-old Madeleine Ruiz.

"I thought the idea of making a video PSA was cool because recording a video, editing it and also telling other people how to save the earth sounded fun," Ruiz said. "We started talking about shutting off lights and the TV, switching to LED bulbs, taking shorter showers and not wasting water in class, but these were all things my parents were already telling me at home. Having my parents help me shoot and act in the video with me was really fun."

Somma's students began working on the project just before schools were shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"The students were very upset, but became very excited once I told them we were still going to complete them," he said.

Students were allowed to either work alone on their projects with family members, or contact their group members to collaborate on their videos while under quarantine.

Some students' videos will be highlighted on PSEG Long Island's Facebook account and other social media pages during the month of July.

"They all took amazing initiative and used their expertise with technology to their advantage," Somma said. "We really look forward to participating again next year."