WASHINGTON (WDVM) — Race in America: Teen Speak virtual town hall will debut on local television on Saturday, December 11. The group of high schoolers who put the special program together did so as part of the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program.

Maurice Johnson, the Director of the 2021 Virtual Town Hall, said, “What’s incredible is that these are very young high school kids.”

Those teenagers, ages 14 and 15, spent their summer vacation working on the special program that is focused on race in America, where the country has been and where it is headed.

“The first two weeks, we are just really engaged in developing the script, developing the storyline and really getting the most out of those topics, so the kids can talk about it,” Johnson said.

The final product has the research findings, but the students took it a step forward by interviewing influential community members like D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee, former first lady Cora Barry, Howard University’s student president and officials from the Office of Youth Affairs.

With a number of multimedia partners, the special project will be airing multiple times on local television, as well as live-streamed. The District Knowledge Network (D.K.N.) on the Office of Cable and Television, Film and Entertainment will be hosting the special on December 11 at 7 p.m., December 12 at 2 p.m., December 14 at 7:30 p.m. and December 18 at 7 p.m. The special can be found on channel 99 on Comcast, Channel 18 on R.C.N. and channel 12 on Verizon. To watch the live stream as the show is airing, click here.