Our student public service announcement SPSA was about urban farming and how it can be beneficial to take advantage of it, especially in NYC. We were exposed to this topic through a previous class assignment which resonated with us for the benefits urban farming has thus far brought and could bring. After doing much research, we were able to find many areas throughout NYC that have incorporated urban farming in schools and universities, displaying its growth and development that could address both food and farming issues.  

Our group assigned tasks by picking the role that we thought we were the best fit for based on our own understanding of our abilities. I took on the role of designing and coordinating the SPSA. My tasks included designing the template of our video, color coordination, making the slides aesthetically pleasing, finding relevant images and videos for our topic, adjusting the duration of the video as necessary, and condensing the information for the audience’s convenience.  

I knew of urban farming but through the process of creating our SPSA, I learned about serval locations that contribute to society through urban farming including my own campus. It was new information to me that my own campus too utilized urban farming and that it was far more advanced in our city than I had thought. Furthermore, I was able to learn about places where I can access the crops of urban farming and volunteer opportunities that will allow me to get more involved.  

A public service announcement (PSA) is the best genre, compared to an essay, to promote public awareness of sustainability issues because videos are more interesting than essays to read and the majority of the public is prone to watch a video rather than read an essay. Additionally, the images in the PSA are also crucial in audiences’ understanding and grasping the severity of sustainability issues. The visuals help audiences be more engaged while providing an amusing method to bestow knowledge of sustainability issues.  

The most favorable aspect for me in working on this project was picking a color theme and matching each slide to fit the green vibes.  However, my least favorable aspect of the group project was finding images and videos for the backgrounds that would all look connected. Improvements that I suggest for the SPSA would be to allow up to a minute for the SPSA because the time limitation felt too short, having a little more time would have allowed us to share more information that many can find useful to get further involved. Overall, I found this project fun and enjoyed my role.