MISD Students Place in a National Video Competition

Can't see the video? View it here.

Six students from Ben Barber Innovation Academy and Frontier High School placed in the top three for StudentCam, an annual C-SPAN documentary competition.

Students in grades 6-12 were asked to create a five to six minute video documentary on what it means to be American.

“I told them don’t just find something. Make sure it’s something that you believe in,” said Ryan Tuomey, arts and audio/visual teacher at Ben Barber. “All my students hit that note, but there were a couple that stood out that I thought did very well.”

The students competed in groups of three. One group from Ben Barber placed second, receiving a cash prize of $1,500. The other group placed third and received $750.

“They did an amazing job,” said Tuomey. “We’ve done this competition for a few years and each year it gets better and better. They really put thought into it and we tried to make sure the actual message is there and it’s not just coming from a film production aspect. We actually want that message to hit home.”

Jenae Green from C-SPAN awarded the StudentCam winners on April 4 at Ben Barber Invitation Academy and Frontier High School.

“We figured we would do well, but we didn’t think we would do this well,” DJ Elliott, Frontier High School senior. “We’re very proud. It was cool to see that email saying we got third and it was a cool experience.”

When making the documentaries, the students set up interviews to convey the stories they wanted to tell. One team landed an interview with Lupe Valdez, a 2018 democratic nominee for Governor of Texas. The other interviewed the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban.

“Our process was very unconventional to most people,” said Tanner Fenton, Frontier High School senior. “We reached out to many different interviewees and we actually got a response from a politician. That was the biggest surprise that they wanted to talk to us kids.”

The deadline for submissions was on January 20.

“We’d gotten the prompt around the first of December, but the problem is obviously winter break,” said Fenton. “The time constraint hurt, but it also helped because it helped us be efficient and helped us not to sit there and lull around.”

The second place video, “’Til We Reach That Day” will air on C-SPAN throughout the day on April 10.

“I believe that being an American means that you have the opportunity to make a difference,” said Elliott. “You live in a place where if you want to do something, you can go out and have lots of resources available to you to go out a make that possible.”

To see the second place winner, “’Til We Reach That Day” go here. To see the third place video, “America: The Land of Opportunity!” go here.

MISD School in Running to Win $100K for Agriculture Program

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UPDATE: Tarver-Rendon Elementary school won the Farmers Insurance contest. Students and staff were presented with the $100,000 grand prize check on Dec. 5 at a surprise assembly.

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What would you do with $100,000? Staff members at Tarver-Rendon Elementary School hope to expand their agricultural leadership program with it.

They applied for Farmers Insurance's Dream Big Teacher Challenge. As part of the application process, educators nationwide submitted proposals explaining the impact the money would have on their community.

The proposal took four months to write, but staff members said it was all worth it because Tarver-Rendon Elementary School made it to the final round. Out of the 15 remaining finalists, five will win the grand prize.

“We figure we have a one in three chance, and we’re the only school district in Texas to be one of the finalists, so we’re very proud of that,” said Principal Jamie Norwood.

Tarver-Rendon students feed the hens while learning
about the egg-laying process.

Right now, the school provides students the opportunity to learn character skills by raising animals, growing their own food, using the food in their homegrown salad bar for lunch and giving some of the harvest to local food banks.

Winning $100,000 would open up even more doors.

“With the grant, we would be able to have an outdoor classroom with stadium-like seating, more stalls for more animals, raised garden beds, more pathways and more signage,” Norwood added.

Rita Denton, director of student nutrition for Mansfield ISD, said the kids would be exposed to more organic and homegrown foods as well.

“I think with that grant and the opportunity that this administration and teachers have at this school to get more equipment, I think that it would bring more ingredients to our garden bar,” she noted.

The grand prize winners will be chosen through online voting.

Cast your vote for Shaye Anne Atwood, agricultural leadership teacher at Tarver-Rendon Elementary School, here.

Voting is open until Nov. 3, and people are allowed to vote once a day.

5-Year-Old in the Running to Win School $30K

Gabby and her mom bond over new recipes.

Five-year-old Gabby Malkomes is a girl of few words, but her contagious smile says it all. The Martha Reid Leadership Academy student has Down Syndrome and lights up every time she helps her mother cook.

Thanks to her cooking skills and bubbly personality, Gabby now has the opportunity to win a $30,000 cafeteria makeover for her school.

Gabby’s mother entered the two of them in the nationwide Ben’s Beginners cooking photo contest, sponsored by Mars Food. The goal of the contest is to promote wholesome diets.

The judges recently picked their top 25 pictures, and the Malkomes family made the cut with a peanut butter rice flan.

“I created around eight recipes using their products, took pictures of Gabby and I cooking them together, and submitted them,” said Luciana Malkomes. “They received more than 500 entries.”

The picture was selected by judges and is up for public voting.

The top five winners will receive a $15,000 check and an additional $30,000 check to be used toward a cafeteria makeover for the child’s school. Winners are determined based on public votes, creativity, presentation of dish and appetite appeal.

“I'm really excited about this opportunity to win this huge prize for the school,” the mother continued.

Public voting is open now through Nov. 6. Grand prize winners will be announced in December.