MISD Students Place in a National Video Competition

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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 Students Gain National Recognition for Documentary

A call for politicians to make serious changes to the country’s foster care system is what earned two Mansfield ISD high school students national attention.

Makenna Hennegan and Kristen Laurie, from Lake Ridge High School, received an honorable mention by C-SPAN for their documentary “To a Good Home.” The cable network’s StudentCam contest received more than 2,500 entries nationwide.

The junior and sophomore duo entered the contest through a project in their Ben Barber Career and Technology Academy film class. Hennegan said the topic has been dear to her for a long time.

“I always cared about the foster care system,” said the 11th grader. “Some of these children live in deplorable conditions. I’ve heard stories where children are locked away without food.”

Laurie (second to right) and Hennegan (right) received a tour
of the C-SPAN bus that was parked outside of the ceremony.

The students interviewed teenagers and adults who were victims of a flawed foster care system. Counselors were also interviewed in the video to shed more light on the situation.

“I think the most emotional part of the video is when one of the people we interviewed said that every child deserves a good home,” said Laurie.

The two filmmakers received their award at a ceremony at Ben Barber on March 22. A representative from U.S. Congressman Joe Barton’s office presented them with a personal congratulatory letter.

“I would like to commend both of you,” the letter from representative Barton stated. “Issues such as these are often drowned out on the national level, and I salute you for your work to point out where the federal government can change people’s lives for the better in tangible ways.”

Hennegan and Laurie won $250 for their documentary. They said they will use the winnings to start their next creative film project.