Kentucky: Video Cautions Teens About Sex

A group of Smoketown-area students has produced a 14-minute video warning about the dangers of unprotected sex. At the Dec. 14 premier at Meyzeek Middle School on Jackson Street, young people and staff from the Presbyterian Community Center's Harambee Health Clinic held an open discussion about the issue.

The students researched, filmed, and edited the video, titled "Don't Fall for the Okey Doke." In it, teens talk to their peers, community leaders, and local residents about the dangers of unprotected sex. The video provides national statistics about STD rates among high schoolers.

The video was made as part of the Making Connections Youth Video Project, a national, 10-city initiative in partnership with PBS. The Louisville effort partnered with public TV station KET, which helped underwrite the project's $7,500 cost and provided video training.

Laura Crawford, a staffer at Making Connections, said the initiative is valuable because it provides a voice to young people in the community. Video production "doesn't have to be a big, involved process now, and many of these kids are already so savvy," she said. "This allows them to have more control over their own story and what's said about their neighborhood."

University of Louisville communications student Lavel White served as the project's assistant director. "I'm from here, I know the neighborhood, and I'm able to interact well with the kids because I understand them," White said.

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