Social Media Challenge Celebrates Public Education
ALBANY – Today, the Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) launched a new video social media campaign. Dubbed the Naenae Challenge, it is part of a larger social media campaign #IAmPublicEd that honors the students and staff as well as the learning that takes place in our public schools every day.
The challenge, which will take place throughout the state, has its participants proclaim “I Am Public Ed” and then do the naenae, a popular social dance. At the end of the video, the dancers then challenge others to do the same. The videos are then posted on participants’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Today, schools and individuals will take the challenge in New York City, Poughkeepsie, Kingston and Rochester. More individuals and groups are expected to take the challenge in the coming days.
“Every single day, our public schools are full of successes. That’s a fact that too many politicians ignore,” said AQE’s Executive Director Billy Easton. “The Naenae Challenge is our way of recognizing all of the accomplishments, big and small, that New York students enjoy daily in our public schools.”
“The Naenae Challenge is a fun way to shed light on something very important – public education,” said NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta. “It’s a shout-out to all the great work happening in our schools and a reminder to the public – and to policymakers – that public education deserves respect.”
Directions on how to take the Naenae Challenge can be found at http://www.aqeny.org/news/videos/ After posting their videos, participants can also email them to naenae@aqeny.org so that they can be shared on AQE’s and NYSUT’s social media sites.
#IAmPublicEd campaign also includes make-your-own memes that participants can create and post on Facebook and Twitter. The memes feature an individual’s picture and story on how public education helped him or her succeed. They can be made at http://www.aqeny.org/iampubliced/?success.