Next weekend, a local journalist will showcase her first screening for her new docuseries, "Growing Pains with Amanda Eke."

“I didn’t learn how to read until I was seven years old. I couldn’t speak; I was mute until I was four years old," Amanda Eke, journalist and filmmaker, said.

In addition to being an award-winning journalist and filmmaker, Eke is also a spoken word poet. She says the delay in her learning is one of the reasons she started her journey on working with children and youth.

"Growing up, I watched shows like "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood," "Reading Rainbow," "Nick News with Linda Ellerbee." I remember the feelings I always got whenever I watched those shows. It made me really feel like I could be something. I could really see someone. I saw people on TV that looked like me and they were talking to kids that looked like me," Eke said.

Her new docuseries focuses on teenagers and the challenges they face inside and outside the classroom.

"I asked them questions like, 'if they were superintendent for the day, what would they change about the school system?' 'Do they feel safe in school,' things like that. How they feel like they’re learning, how they feel like they could be better learning. What are teachers doing that they think is wrong. What are teachers doing that they think is right," Eke explained.

"I think I just didn’t realize how good I have it until I heard some of the other kids talk. We all go through similar things, but also their experiences are very different from mine," Anqi Geng, a student at Manlius Pebble Hill, said.

Geng, a freshman, says it was alarming to learn that some students have to go through metal detectors before they can start their school day.

"I’ve never had to deal with that in my life before. It’s not something I thought of. It was interesting to see how everyone else has grown up differently," Geng said.

For Kameyia Huddleston, a junior in the Syracuse City School District, she says having a police presence in the school and going through metal detectors makes her feel safer on one hand, but uneasy on the other.

"But I feel like everyone’s suspicious of me just because I’m walking into school with a bookbag or my jewelry goes off in the metal detector and you get wanded down. It’s kind of daunting," Huddleston said.

Aside from the safety aspect, they also discussed the stress of just being a student.

"From like middle school up, the pressure is on. It’s like go go go. You go to your classes, you do this, you do this and you don’t get a break. We actually talked about the schedules and how they’re so grueling and how there’s no real break," Huddleston said.

They are experiencing growing pains.

“Whatever that child’s experiencing outside the classroom, they’re taking it with them when they step inside that classroom. Our environment really shapes how our kids are learning,” Eke said.

Geng and Huddleston say they are not just thankful to have a platform to express their truth, but are also thankful someone is listening.

The pilot screening will take place Saturday, March 9 from 6-9 p.m. in the community room at Salt City Market. The event is free.