C-SPAN honors 3 for video creation on ‘Stadium Bridges’

View the award-winning Pioneer student video here.

Tracey Van Dusen featured on White House website

By Casey Hans
AAPSNews Service

Three Pioneer High School juniors were honored this month for their work in creating and documenting a video about the Stadium Boulevard bridges as part of the C-SPAN 2011 StudentCam Competition.

Pioneer winnersRosanna Neuhausler, Ryan Murphy and Jack Wissman received awards for being one of 75 student-produced videos honored throughout the country in the contest for their project called “Stadium Bridges.” The winning entries were originally announced in March and can be viewed at studentcam.org.

The video includes the students’ explanation of the bridges, the problem and plans to repair them, the federal government’s involvement and an interview with Ann Arbor City Councilwoman Margie Teall.

Debbie Lamb, coordinating producer for C-SPAN was on hand for the awards ceremony and viewing of the video, which can be found online with other student works at the C-SPAN website. Families and other Pioneer students were part of the awards day.

“They did a great job of incorporating the interviews – I liked the (video) shots,” Lamb said. “They showed the importance of how this situation has impacted the community and how the federal government plays a role.”

The topic of this year’s contest addressed just that: “Washington D.C. through my Lens,” and had students show how a federal government decision can have direct impact on a local level, Lamb said.

A total of 1,070 entries were received for the 2011 contest, involving 1,400 students in grades 6-12 across 40 states and Washington, D.C.

Wissman said the trio Pioneer chose the topic after considering the impact that Stadium Boulevard has on the school. “It’s really a key road,” he said. “Most students travel on it to get to school.”

Murphy noted, “there’s a lot that needs to be done with it.” He said the three worked well together to help the idea gel.

Neuhausler said she did much of the technical work of putting the video together, while her partners wrote the script and produced the content. She said filming the Stadium Bridges took a lot of work and time; it took the three students about 20 hours of total time to produce the film, she said.

The project was awarded $250 from C-SPAN that the three students will divide.

Pioneer teacher Tracey Van Dusen was also lauded during the short ceremony for her support of C-SPAN and involving her students in programs that help them understand their government such as the video competition. She competed several years ago to be awarded a C-SPAN fellowship and also became a C-SPAN ambassador.

Other Pioneer students were recognized for their work, which was also entered in the competition. They included:

  • Nate Carillo, Kevin Zhang and Jacob Winick for a film on the auto bailout
  • Jan Wu, Don Yoon Choi and Guan Lun He for a film about education reform
  • Jack McKarns, Ruohao Li and James Boyd for a film about immigration
  • Garrett Kessler, Garrett Halpert and Mac Moore for a film about federal stimulus money in Ann Arbor.

The 2012 topic for the C-SPAN contest has been selected, Lamb said. Students can be thinking about how they will take a provision of the U.S. Constitution and illustrate why it’s important to them.

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