YMCA Turns to Teenagers to Document Program and Create Videos

In the past, the YMCA of Greater New York faced several obstacles when it tried to talk to donors, potential participants, and others about its Global Teens program. Chief among them: Very few photographs, and the difficulty teenaged participants had putting into words what the service trips meant to them.

The organization’s inexpensive solution: Train a cadre of participants to document the trips and provide an inside look at what is often the young peoples’ first experiences in another country.

Since 1996, more than 700 teenagers have traveled to other countries through the Global Teens program to work on service projects, learn about another culture, and push themselves to try new things.

This past summer, 120 students went on 10 overseas trips. Twelve participants who volunteered for the new Press Corps program were equipped with both a digital camera and a video camera to record the groups’ experiences. After the trip, they worked with college-age volunteers to edit their material into short videos.

One exuberant video shows how a group of teens who traveled to Thailand to help build a new YMCA in the village of Sanpatong reacted when their van driver cooked a frog for them. At first, most of the kids said they wouldn’t try the dish, but in time, the aroma won them over.

The Press Corps program had the unexpected benefit of helping to draw quieter kids more fully into the groups, says Kevin Shermach, who oversees communications at the YMCA of Greater New York.

“In a lot of the cases, the kids who volunteered for it were not the overwhelmingly outgoing kids, he says. “They now had an excuse to go up to everyone and talk about how the trip was going.”

The YMCA plans to use the videos to help recruit participants for next year’s trips and to show donors — and prospective donors — what the young people experience when they participate.

“It’s showing the impact while it’s taking place,” says Mr. Shermach, “which I think is really rare, especially when you look at programs with teens, who are notoriously guarded and hold things close to the vest.”

The YMCA of Greater New York also plans to use video to show the impact of its work closer to home.

During July and August, the organization recorded more than 700 people sharing their Y stories as part of the organization’s Summer Story Project. The YMCA of Greater New York will use the footage to create its next video series, which the organization plans to release early next year.