She's Roxanne!
What is it and Why?
It is frequently assumed that education has the power to change peoples’ lives and that a college degree provides a more level playing field when it comes to securing employment, achieving better health, and obtaining an enhanced quality of life. However, the education and personal growth that college provides will not make a difference unless students are ready. Even the most sophisticated college students sometimes struggle with the process of growing and maturing. They encounter situations with friendships, love interests, being independent, experiencing disappointment, health issues, and more—all of this being a natural part of the college experience. Students who arrive at college from less advantaged backgrounds sometimes face such issues with even less preparation. These circumstances can have a detrimental impact on any student’s academic progress, regardless of background.
She’s Roxanne! is an animated series featuring our best friends, a group of charismatic pooches, to help 8-11 year olds begin the process of developing life skills and exploring some of the difficult social issues of their age group and of our time. The Covid pandemic has kept many youngsters isolated from friends and extended family—those people on whom they rely, in addition to their parents, to confide and to get a helping hand in sorting out their difficulties. As schools have reopened, the emphasis has primarily been on the academic basics, not the social and emotional learning that many students need. She’s Roxanne! addresses this important learning gap for preteens and helps them acquire the life skills and confidence they need to be successful.
Issues such as bullying and hazing, smoking and vaping, drunk driving, accepting a transgender friend, sexual harassment, having an incarcerated parent, and others will be addressed in ways that are simultaneously serious and humorous. The pilot script, New Dog in School, deals with the issue of hazing and provides examples of the way humor can be incorporated into serious subject matter.
Because of Covid, many workplaces look different and operate differently from the ways they did in the past. How we educate our youth is bound to change as well. The typical 8 AM-3 PM school day for all students may no longer exist. Instead, some students may continue to learn remotely, others may attend school in a traditional way, and yet others may be educated in a hybrid format. Schools may rely more on tutors and teaching assistants to help with the process of educating students and technology will be used in new ways. She’s Roxanne! can be an integral component of this new educational format where students can view—either under the auspices of the formal school curriculum or simply on one’s own—the She’s Roxanne! videos and acquire some of the important life lessons alongside Roxanne and her pals.
She's Roxanne!--Season 1
Episode 1: New Dog in School: After her nightmare about being the new dog, in which she was on the receiving end of some significant hazing, Roxanne’s first day at her new school goes better than she could have hoped.
Episode 2: Roxanne Misses Spencer: Miss Edna clears up some misperceptions the students have about college and explains a bit of what students can expect from college.
Episode 3: Roxanne’s First Job: Always thinking ahead, Roxanne tries to get a job to save money for college. She understands that punctuality, creativity, dependability, and preparation are critical in the work world.
Episode 4: One Step at a Time: Roxanne’s anxiety kicks in during a school trip to the beach but she learns some techniques for keeping it under control.
Episode 5: Helping a Friend: Roxanne and her friend Newt help Miss Edna make Bark Palace School accessible for students who use wheelchairs.
Episode 6: Double Trouble: Carter and King are found vaping and smoking behind the school and are required to make a class presentation on the dangers of these activities.
Episode 7: The Camping Trip: In the first of a two-part episode, the Bark Palace camping trip brings some students’ deeply held secrets to the surface.
Episode 8: Secrets Revealed: In part two, with Roxanne’s encouragement, two students reveal their secrets—one would like to transition to female and the other has an incarcerated parent—to a very accepting class.