one of our neighbors here at gw, the north america office of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations, has long been a supporter of this mission.

together, we’ve taken exceptional students to report from the world food prize in iowa, and to fao headquarters in rome for world food day at the committee on world food security. since the pandemic limited our ability to offer these travel-based experiential learning opportunities, we had to get creative.

now, i am thrilled to announce our first ever planet forward-fao storytelling summer fellowship, through which four students will produce stories in any medium at the nexus of food security, agriculture, and nutrition, and work under the guidance of gw’s national geographic professor of science communication, lisa palmer.

allow me to introduce our 2021 storytelling summer fellows:

• sejal govindarao is a rising sophomore studying political communication at george washington university. sejal is based in the san francisco bay area and will be reporting on minority communities there.

• terrius harris, who is currently pursuing his master’s of legal studies for indigenous peoples law at university of oklahoma, is a previous storyfest winner, a past senior planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 , and previously traveled with planet forward to the committee on world food security in 2018. terrius will be reporting from oahu, hawaii, on indigenous population’s access to food.

• jules struck, from emerson college and who is pursuing a master’s degree in journalism, will be reporting from the boston, massachusetts, area.

• benjamin thomas, a junior studying environmental studies at franklin & marshall college, will be reporting from a sustainable farm in havre de grace, maryland.

our fellows begin june 7, and while stories will be completed this summer, the fellowship will culminate with events surrounding world food day in october. keep an eye on planetforward.org and our social media accounts for more from and about these amazing students!

edralin interviews leaders of the green bronx machine, an impact-driven organization based in the bronx that builds local food systems and empowers students to grow and consume their own healthy foods. crossing paths with the green bronx machine founder at a food sustainability summit in 2017, edralin reconnects with the green bronx machine team four years later to learn how the organization has addressed rising hunger rates and navigated a challenging learning environment, due to the pandemic.

want to learn more? watch her video above, and check out edralin’s story about the green bronx machine.

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special thanks to the planet forward team and heidi estrada for assisting with the filming and production of this video.

specifically, edralin wanted to focus on food insecurity within the context of covid-19. her piece profiled the green bronx machine, a nonprofit organization that seeks to build healthy, equitable, and resilient communities through inspired education, local food systems, and workforce development.

edralin had pitched the topic for her short documentary because she had crossed paths with the founder of the green bronx machine at a conference in milan, italy, years ago and decided to reach out to see how they were handling the covid-19 pandemic in their classrooms.

the process of completing this film took about two months. we had to reshoot a lot because of minor details we would notice after we’d reviewed our footage, so this process required us to pay close attention to detail — and utilize a lot of patience! however, looking back now, we’re glad we took our time with it.

there’s a lot more to creating a documentary than just picking up a camera; creating a documentary is an art form that has a long process, but the final product is worth the effort.