On Thursday May 10th, the Smithtown Youth & Community Alliance will host a Premiere Screening of a student produced Bullying/Cyber-bullying Public Service Announcement. The Screening will take place from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM at the Horizons Center Community Room, located at 161 E. Main Street in Smithtown.
The special screening of the PSA will include extra footage for final review. Those in attendance will have an opportunity to give input into the final editing process. Based on the screening room consensus, the videographer will make final edits prior to producing the official PSA.
“I want to thank Kenny Bernardini from the Town of Smithtown Public Safety, Tech Services Department for doing such an amazing job on this production. He is a true Artist... The most important lesson we can teach our children is how to be kind to one another. Smithtown residents take care of our neighbors. We come together in tragedy and in celebration. Passing that empathy and kindness down to future generations, secures our solidarity for generations to come.” - Councilwoman Lisa Inzerillo
The PSA depicts a student who is bullied after posting a selfie on Instagram, wearing a new shirt. The bullying begins online and quickly progresses to physical and mental bullying at school. A bystander witnesses the treatment of this student and publicly reasons with the bullies. The bystander becomes an “Upstander” and decides to wear the same shirt in a selfie posted the next day. The bullies realize they are being “called out” for their behavior. The following day many more come forward to apologize or compliment the bullied student.
In early November of 2017, Councilwoman Lisa Inzerillo joined in collaboration with the Youth Bureau, Public Safety and members of the community to form a Bullying/Cyberbullying Public Service Announcement coalition, a Sub-Committee of the Smithtown Youth & Community Alliance. The group has met regularly at the Horizons Center Community Room to produce a special public service announcement film, intended to educate the public of the widespread effect that Bullying has on everyone who may witness the act.
All of the actors in the PSA are local students, who helped the Director, Kenny Bernardini of Public Safety Tech Services Department, to create a storyboard. The students devoted their afternoons to the film production. The PSA was filmed at Smithtown High School West. All student actors were required to fill out a release form with parental consent.
A Pizza Dinner will follow the special screening and final edit review.