Best of HEC-TV 2012: Impact, Behind the Minds & HEC-TV Live!

    Happy New Year

    Is it really December 31st? It feels like Thanksgiving was just last week. Regardless, I have run out of days in the year and I still have three shows to feature for Best of 2012. So today, as we say farewell to 2012, I am going to share our favorite segments from Impact, Behind the Minds and HEC-TV Live! 

    BestOfHECTV

    I learned about what recently happened in Newtown, CT via my Twitter feed. What I read in 140 characters was enough for me to know that an unfathomable act of violence had just occurred. I unintentionally found myself avoiding the news that day to delay the inevitable details that I would learn beyond those 140 characters. My heart goes out to everyone affected by this devastating tragedy.

    The stories I have chosen to feature today will hopefully help to restore our faith in humanity after such a horrific event. I’ve said this before, but I feel very fortunate to work for a media outlet that focuses on covering all of the things that make meaningful contributions to our society.

    Best of HEC-TV 2012: Impact

    HEC-TV’s program Impact lives up to its name as it highlights people, companies, and organizations that make a commitment to find innovative ways to improve the quality of life for others. These are the good news stories from our own community that will focus on those making a difference in someone’s life, whether that’s in their neighborhood, community or around the world.

    How do you take a heartbreaking situation and turn it into something that brings intense joy throughout the world? A local woman did just that after a personal crisis taught her a valuable lesson. Founded in 2002 by Theresa Wilson, the Blessing Basket Project empowers people living third world countries to lift themselves out of poverty. Through the art of basket weaving, the project has delivered freedom and prosperity to villages that were once destitute.

    BlessingBasket

    “The Blessing Basket Project is our savior”
    – Chief Naba Bosongo Dogpoeya II
    Nyariga, Ghana

    The project is based on the exclusive Prosperity Wage model, which ensures that artisans receive at least 2.5 times fair trade for their handicraft. This beyond fair trade model creates the working capital the artisans need to start independent businesses. Those businesses enable them to sustainably exit poverty. You can help these villages continue to thrive by purchasing their artwork via the Blessing Basket Project web site. This emotional story behind the Blessing Basket Project is one of personal triumph with a world-wide impact.

    Click to view video

    Click to view video

    Best of HEC-TV 2012: HEC-TV Live!

    HEC-TV Live! is a unique interactive program that connects classrooms with experts from various fields through videoconferencing. If you have followed this blog regularly, you may remember the behind the scenes post about the shoot from Ridley Pearson’s writing workshop at St. James the Greater school. The show has been edited and is now available to view online and I am so excited to share it with our viewers! I selected this HEC-TV Live! show for Best of 2012 because Ridley Pearson is an individual who truly cares about and contributes to the future of education in our community.

    Click to view video

    Click to view video

    Best of HEC-TV 2012: Behind the Minds

    HEC-TV’s Kara Savio and Taunia Mason won an Emmy for their work in this segment of February’s Behind the Minds. There’s a lot more to education than blackboards and textbooks. Behind the Minds takes you behind the school doors to highlight educational initiatives within St. Louis city and county K-12 schools.

    2012 Emmy Award winners: Pete Foggy, Kara Savio, Jacqui Poor, Taunia Mason

    2012 Emmy Award winners: Pete Foggy, Kara Savio, Jacqui Poor, Taunia Mason

    Named one of People Magazine‘s “Heroes of the Year” in 2011, St. Louis juvenile court Judge Jimmie Edwards has made a difference in the lives of area teens. Believing the juvenile justice system to be flawed, Edwards opened the Innovative Concept Academy as an alternative disciplinary method for troubled teens. This one-of-a-kind school offers kids a second chance; it is the only school in the country founded by a judge who believes it is more important to save a child’s life than to sentence him or her to a detention center. The academy provides these at-risk kids with adult supervision and productive activities that reduce and even eliminate their chance to commit crime.

    Edwards

    “If they believe in me and they trust you, they will make every effort to achieve; I truly believe that.” 
    – Jimmie Edwards

    The Innovative Concept Academy and its “tough love” approach is a testament to Judge Edwards’ dedication to the people of St. Louis. I chose this segment for Best of 2012 because it tells the story of a man who refused to give up and the kids whose lives were changed by him. Judge Jimmie Edwards truly is an “extraordinary educator.”

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    Click to view video

    2012 was a fantastic year for HEC-TV and I hope you have enjoyed watching the shows featured in this Best of 2012 series. We have exciting shows planned for 2013 with more stories about people and organizations who make the community a better place, not just in St. Louis but around the world. Happy New Year from all of us at HEC-TV!