Jenny Buccos / 2010 National Awards Honoree
Jenny M. Buccos
Founder, Director and Producer of ProjectExplorer.org
"It is a honor to be recognized for the work ProjectExplorer.org has done, telling stories from four continents to promote a greater understanding in our youth. I believe that Citizen Diplomacy must be instilled as a core value at an early age to lay the foundation for generations to come. This honor, and the recognition and support that come with it, will help bring my message of understanding to thousands more young learners."
Born in Washington, D.C., Ms. Buccos spent her childhood in the small town of Fonda, New York. Arriving in New York City in 1999, she began working with a Credit Suisse First Boston as marketing project manager on two web-based startup projects. It is here she gained experience with global media production as part of web-based marketing campaigns managing projects in Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York.
In 2001, she left the corporate world. In 2003, she co-founded ProjectExplorer as a way to provide students with access to peoples and places they may never have seen or knew existed. After 18 months of fundraising, business development and research, she produced and directed ProjectExplorer's first program entitled Shakespeare's England. The first time director/producer's unique vision of student and family-focused travel programming attracted the support of world-renowned organizations such as The Old Vic Theatre, The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust and Film London.
In five short years, ProjectExplorer.org went from a simple idea to a world-class, award-winning program that has been accessed by nearly 2.5 million visitors globally.
In 2007/2008, Ms. Buccos directed and produced South Africa, working with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. John Kani, the Apartheid Museum, the F.W. de Klerk Foundation, Robben Island and Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer Greg Marinovich. This film and multimedia program is designed to inform school-aged children about South Africa's diverse cultural history while educating about difficult subjects like HIV/AIDS and the legacy of apartheid. In June 2008, she was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine for her work in South Africa.
In 2008, she co-created the Student-to-Student program, a hands-on educational program created to train high school students in multimedia production and on-camera journalism. She is a professional mentor for students participating in this program.
From September to November 2008, Ms. Buccos was on location in Jordan filming her third ProjectExplorer.org series, which debuted in Winter 2009. The ProjectExplorer.org Mexico series debuted in September 2010 and Ms. Buccos is currently developing projects in Thailand, India, and Australia. To date, she has directed/produced more than 250 short films for students and families.