The United Youth Media team that reported on the 8th Micronesian Games was made up of 20 young people from Pohnpei, 3 from Australia and a team of local media who collaborated to get the best possible coverage of the 14 sporting competitions held over 10 days.
The UYM team were responsbile for capturing the action in all media formats and communicating that out to Micronesia. The young people recruited from SDA and Upward Bound programs were some of Pohnpei's most talented, selected on merit and their willingness to give of their time during the games.
One week prior to the games students were trained by UYM's Melbourne base, who were there to both build the media capacity and run the web and social media infrastructure of the games. Once broadband was connected, Telecom generously donated access for all of the media team, making access to publish content possible. UYM is appreciative of all the support given to it by Telecom, in particular Ty and Steincia.
UYM would also like to thank our media partners, Jun Salmon and his broadcast team, Bill Jayne from Kaselehlie Press, the Photograhy club of Pohnpei, Nathan Fry from the Christian radio station and visiting journalists. The collaboration and sharing of content was very special and made for an extraordinary coverage both live and for preservation on the web.
Our young people did an extraordinary job of capturing the stories as they happened. From quiet, shy "I can't possibly ask an interview question' to 'let ME do the interview' We saw a transformation in these young people from shy to confident with an attitude of wanting to give back and make their world in Pohnpei a better place. These students are ready to face their futures with hope for a brighter future.
Please support these young people as they begin a new chapter of UYM in Pohnnpei. Invite them to report for your event, ask them to set up a website for you. Each are incredibly talented in their own way and I am proud to have them on the global UYM team.
Edwina Ricci
Director - UYM International