An Innovative company uses the power of Web video to help children and youth fight social and environmental injustice in their own communities—and around the world.

Last year, Ryan Hoye was a 17-year old who wanted to make a difference. He was your average teenager: dealing with ordinary things like school exams, a part-time job and the pressures of day-to-day life. And like the rest of us, he was perhaps a little daunted by a world filled with challenges ranging from global warming to war, poverty and homelessness. Still, Ryan decided to do something about it. Inspired by a teacher at his high school who had initiated a science project on environmental sustainability, he joined a team of students who raised $40,000 dollars and built a series of solar panels on the roof of their school gym. The solar array now provides a clean source of energy for their gym score clock, decreasing the school’s reliance on fossil-fuel power sources. And for Ryan, the project was a profound lesson on putting ideas into action on behalf of himself and others. Ryan’s story is an example of one student’s ability to effect change. Starting this fall, an innovative new Web broadcaster, Quantum Shift Media Inc., is banking that a bold, $150,000 “Be the Change” School Video contest can create a thousand more stories of hope and action just like Ryan’s. The creator and CEO of Quantum Shift is Hugo Bonjean, a businessman, entrepreneur and activist. Four years ago, Bonjean was a successful 38-year-old business executive working for the Marriott International in Latin America. There, he dealt with some of the richest people in South America, while at the same time observing firsthand some of the poorest living conditions in the world. “What I saw rekindled the humanitarian values of my teens,” says Bonjean, “I decided to commit the rest of my life to the integration of ethics into the economic fabric of society.” In exploring for ways to do so, Bonjean observed the profound ability of Web video to disseminate information. As made clear by the YouTube experience, streaming Web video and related technologies were finally at the point where people could easily share their videos on the Web. And for Bonjean, videos are a powerful storytelling mechanism—perfect for stories about people making a difference. So in January, 2007, he launched www.quantumshift.tv, a Web TV site broadcasting user-supplied programming: positive, solutions-oriented stories of men, women and children finding ways to meet the environmental and social challenges of the world. Though QuantumShift.tv launched with content for all age groups, Bonjean and his team quickly recognized that one of their key target groups would be kids. Notes Bonjean, when it comes to environmental and social issues: “They just get it. They realize that they’re the ones who will be stuck with the problems we leave behind.”   So this fall, Quantum Shift launches a major contest initiative called the “Be the Change” School Video Contest. It’s designed to mobilize kids across North America into both performing projects of environmental and social good, and sharing the stories of their efforts with the world. The contest invites students from grades one to twelve to come up with a project of their choice, and working in teams and with teachers, they are to document their progress in two short videos to be uploaded to QuantumShift.tv.  In addition to the benefit of making a difference in the world, the contest gives students the opportunity to win $50,000 in prizes for their school. Projects can range from volunteering at a local homeless shelter, measuring a school’s carbon footprint or building a school in a developing country—anything that addresses an environmental or social concern in a positive, solutions-oriented way.  To provide ideas and resources for both students and teachers, Quantum Shift has enlisted a range of high-profile partners, including organizations like UNICEF, Free the Children, Care and the Sierra Youth Coalition & Plan. Quantum Shift is also relying on the active participation of teachers and other educational professionals. Their goal is to make the education community understand and appreciate how the “Be the Change” contest can be a powerful project-based tool for teachers and educational professionals looking to teach students about social and environmental issues within their curricula.As well, the contest incorporates a video puzzle game where teams gain extra points by watching the videos of other teams and answering questions about them. Beyond “checking out the competition,” this component will spur on the crosspollination of ideas and social networking among students by adding an entertaining and educational game experience that will keep them coming back. In May 2008, the top 25 ranked videos will be reviewed by a panel of celebrity judges, including bestselling author and environmentalist Paul Hawken, writer and magazine publisher Eric Utne, actress Pleasant Wayne, and pro-skateboarder Bob Burnquist. This jury will select the top three videos in three age categories (grades 1-6, 7-9, 10 and up), and from this group, the public will be invited to choose the winners. Bonjean hopes that the contest and its finale will be the good-news story of the year. More importantly, he hopes that the act of helping others will become a lifelong habit among the thousands of students, parents and teachers who will participate. “I don’t think I know anyone who, once they started out on the path of helping others, just stopped,” observes Bonjean. Ryan Hoye would agree. Now 18, he has graduated from high school and has finished his part in his high school’s ongoing environmental sustainability project. He’s happy that the story of him and his classmates’ project is available on a site like QuantumShift.tv—available to inspire others like him looking for a place to start. Just as importantly, Ryan is still jazzed by the idea of helping others. He’s exploring his options for the future, but is determined to do something about the environmental and social problems of the world. “My generation is the one that these issues will make the most difference to,” says Ryan, “So it’s our job to push the limit on everything. We need to get people to start paying attention.”   Find out more 

To find out how you can participate in the “Be the Change” School Video Contest, visit www.quantumshift.tv/schools.