Melody Or, 21, became interested in Youth Radio through a friend. She was invited to the Youth Radio graduation of one of her friends, where she was able to learn about the organization and network. Since she was passionate about music, she eventually decided to apply.
Melody began her time at Youth Radio in Core, an introductory course where students are exposed to radio broadcasting, music production, video production, journalism and media literacy. After three months of Core she then moved on to Bridge, a more advanced course, where she focused mainly on music production. Upon her graduation from Bridge, Melody secured an internship in the organization’s newsroom and later the web team. She is now a Project Associate in Youth Radio’s Health Department working with a social messaging campaign, BOM (Boss of Me). BOM is a primary prevention campaign for teen dating violence and is designed to promote healthy relationships in our local community by helping teens make healthier decisions.
Melody has attended Youth Radio intermittently since the organization was located in Berkeley. During her extensive time with the organization, she has enhanced her critical thinking, assumed leadership roles, gained technical skills, learned various techniques on how to communicate effectively, developed the ability to work with others and tightened her writing skills. “Working at Youth Radio has helped me identify skills I never knew I had and brought them out and polished them. All I’ve gained has given me more confidence when approaching others,” she stated.
She is now working towards transferring to California State University-East Bay to pursue a degree in social work or counseling. Youth Radio has helped her become a better student, citizen and worker. “Youth Radio does not only focus on radio, it varies from music to food, and is about networking and progressing. I believe youth definitely benefit by being involved with such an amazing non-profit that supports youth in all aspects of life,” she said.
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