The Lowell Sun

Center expands teen's horizons

MICHAEL LAFLEUR, Sun Staff

Monday, December 13, 2004 - LOWELL The United Teen Equality Center has allowed Shachie Garcia to explore.

The 17-year-old from Lowell said she found a love of camera work that she never knew she had. Now, she aspires to be a television reporter and is applying for a scholarship to Denison University in Granville, Ohio, to pursue her goal.

"There's something very beautiful about it," she said. "When you interview a person on camera, you get to see a lot more about them. You get to know them a lot more."

Garcia said she didn't discover her passion for video production until this summer, when she took part in a program called Youth Visions, a $23,000 federal grant-funded endeavor run by UTEC and the Lowell Telecommunications Corp., the city's municipal and public-access cable provider.

The summer-long project's goal was to choose one aspect of the community to change, then develop a televised public-service message around it. Garcia and her fellow participants advocated for more teen centers in Lowell.

"When you have a lot of violence going on in your life, a good way to get rid of it is to go to places like this, where you can explore yourself," she said.

Though the Youth Visions project has ended, exploring through video has spread to many other aspects of UTEC's anti-gang and teen organizing efforts.

One of those efforts was a rally in late November called "Peace in Action," which was organized largely by Lowell High School student Joshua Estrada, 16, to take a stand against gang violence in Lowell.

"We wanted to show that it's not a normal thing," Estrada said.

The rally drew more than 150 teens and involved a video project and a painted mural, said UTEC executive director Gregg Croteau.

Garcia and Marielys Fontanez, a 17-year-old member of the LHS Air Force Junior ROTC program, worked cameras at the event.

"I lost my friend, and I really wanted to make a difference," said Fontanez. She said she knew Moises Cotto, 19, a Lowell man who was gunned down with his 13-year-old brother in a suspected gang-related shooting on Lincoln Street in August.

"We wanted to make a difference and just say that it's enough," she said.

Another teen who experienced video through UTEC this summer was Lien Long, 16, of Lowell. She edited and composed a video of this summer's Lowell Community Health Center Health Expo.

"Making the videos expresses creativity," she said. "You have fun."

Laki Vazakas, UTEC's video coordinator, has a catchphrase for the teens' captivation with the camera: "contagious video."

"Video work is a way for the teens to convey a strong point of view ... especially about a teenager's experience," he said. "All of this adds up to some life skills, obviously collaboration, scripting, execution."