Apollo Outreach Initiative Hosts Program for Local Students

On Thursday, November 21, the Apollo Outreach Initiative (AOI), a media literacy program run by Oberlin’s cinema studies department, will host a film screening centered on sustainable agriculture for area high school and middle school students. Entitled “Food for Thought,” the program features two documentaries, Hungry for Health, a short documentary by Theresa DeSautels ’10 that shows one Cleveland woman’s difficulties in finding healthy food; and Polycultures: Food Where We Live, a feature-length documentary by Brad Masi ‘93 about local food growers in Northeast Ohio .

After the screening, AOI Media Education Consultant Sam Phillips will host a conversation about the film with the students, who will also leave the event with a booklet full of recipes. Food for Thought will be catered with local food from vendors Shagbark Seed and Mill, and prepared by Dave Sokoll, chef at the Oberlin Early Childhood Center.

Phillips says that Oberlin students in the cinema studies program’s AOI class have been integral in putting this program together, creating the recipe book, and coordinating logistics.

Students attending the Food for Thought program are in Oberlin City Schools and Firelands Local Schools. Participating classrooms prepared for the event with an educational slide show about food justice issues.

“I hope that this actually empowers kids to get involved in these sustainability projects that are happening in their communities,” says Phillips. “The other goal is to get teachers excited about collaborating with the Apollo.”

Phillips says that AOI hopes to host similar events in the future. In the meantime, the organization is continuing its media literacy efforts in the community the following day, November 22, with an interactive media workshop for all ages, entitled “Playtime,” from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oberlin Public Library.