We arrived on 29th July 2009 at the Stanford University where the Adobe Youth Voices Global Summit was to be held. We were absolutely delighted to be a part of the summit. We met so many new people from all over the world, it was a great opportunity to learn about other participants and the places they live and also share our experiences with them. On the first day we had an introduction activity which gave us the opportunity to know all the participants with whom we will be working for the next 5 days. We had the ice breaker activity where we were given two puzzle pieces and our task was to search for our group mates and complete the puzzle.

The second day of the workshop began with an opening session by the Creative Director of the Art Department of the film Harry Potter, Mr. David Nakabyashi. We were overwhelmed and very privileged to have met such an outstanding and inspirational personality. This session was very informative and we learnt how to create imaginary creatures. After this session we presented Mr. Nakabyashi with a painting and had our photograph taken with him. Later we split into groups and our task was to produce a short film on “Change”. We were thrilled because we had many ideas that we could use in the film. It also enabled us to develop our skills in learning how to edit the new Adobe Premier Pro- Software. As we were grouped with mixed age people, some of our group did not know how to operate a camera, so we helped them in the photography and taught them how to take different camera shots.

On the third day we went on an excursion to the Adobe Headquarters in San Jose. It was an amazing, modern structure. We were divided into groups and had a tour of the building and learnt the different types of software used.

Day four started with an enormous surprise, the pop group Black Eyed Peas visited and performed for us. This remains to be one of our many fond memories. By afternoon our task was to create “Real Media” with a community impact. This was a difficult workshop; also there was some difficulty in organizing people’s role in the team. We then presented the knowledge we had gained to the other groups. Later in the evening we prepared ourselves for the ‘Adobe Youth Voices Live’ in San Francisco. Our film ‘We are by your side’, was screened to the audience. We also met the staff from Adobe and got the chance to speak with them and take some photographs.

And soon we were back home, sharing our experiences with our friends back at Christel House.

(This was an update from this previous post)

Two students of Christel House Learning Center Supriya Venkatesh and Shiva Sagar Rudresh along with their Art Teacher Dhanaraj Keezhara have been chosen to attend the first Annual Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) Summit 2009, to be held at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA USA from July 29 to August 02, 2009.

They are the core members of the team that developed a short five – minute film “We Are by Your Side” overseen by Art Teacher Dhanaraj Keezhara. The film was awarded the second prize at DAM - 09 (Digital Arts Movement Film Festival) at the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune in February 2009.

Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) is a signature philanthropy program of Adobe Foundation with a vision to introduce young minds to the world of digital media. Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) gives training to approximately 7500 youth in 30 countries through 400 educators. Out of this, 67 students and 33 educators are selected to attend the Summit. This is the first time that an international summit is being held under the program.