SU Abroad students in Strasbourg put best foot forward with anti-discrimination TV spot

SU Abroad students in Strasbourg put best foot forward with anti-discrimination TV spotJuly 02, 2007Daeya Malboeufdmking04@syr.edu

Students from the Syracuse University Study Abroad (SU Abroad) program in Strasbourg, France, recently put their talents–and their shoes–to use as part of a project for the 46-nation Council of Europe, Europe’s leading human rights organization.

The students produced a 30-second television spot for the council’s campaign titled “All Different All Equal,” which aims to mobilize Europe’s young people to combat discrimination in all its forms.

The challenge for the students was to come up with an eye-catching, yet low-budget, spot that would portray difference in a positive light. The spot they designed shows–from the knees down–people walking, dancing and jumping in all kinds of footwear, from hiking boots to platform heels. The message is: “Take a stand against discrimination?make the change.”

It will be broadcast on national televisions throughout Europe and is scheduled to appear on CNN at some point in the future.

The project was led by Cathie Burton, who directs the Campaigns Team at the council and teaches communications at the SU Abroad Strasbourg Center. “This is an excellent example of how young people can work together for a very worthy cause, and pick up useful life skills on the way,” she says. “It has been a great experience to tap into their energy, and the result is a really good quality product.”

“At first people were a little bit uncertain, but when we got going it was so much fun,” says student Sarah Xie, who filmed and edited the spot.

Raymond Bach, director of the Strasbourg program, says that the students’ participation in this project “shows that young Americans abroad can make an important contribution to their host county, and, in this case, to their host continent.”

He says that Syracuse’s close connection to the Council of Europe “gives our students opportunities that even local French students only dream about.”

To learn more about SU Abroad in Strasbourg, visit http://suabroad.syr.eduFor more information on the Council of Europe visit http://www.coe.int