Skyline junior Taylor Phillips earned Honorable Mention in C-SPAN’s national StudentCam competition. Phillips’ video, Unalienable Rights and the Tulsa Race Massacre earned her a $250 prize and a visit from C-SPAN’s Rachel Katz, representatives from U.S. and state Senators and the Board of Education last week.
This year’s C-SPAN competition called on students to make short documentary films exploring the American story through the Declaration of Independence and received nearly 5,000 entrees.
Phillips says she is interested in history, particularly African-American history. Focusing on the Tulsa race riot was an obvious choice when they discussed the line in the Declaration of Independence about unalienable rights. “I’m reading these words, and I see what it says, but like a lot of history says otherwise and that was one of the first examples that came to me and so I decided to focus on it,” Phillips said.
In making her documentary, Phillips interviewed University of Michigan professor Dr. Scott Ellsworth and Tucker Toole, a descendant of a survivor of the Tulsa massacre. Phillips says she was initially nervous of the interview process but ended up liking talking to them and learning what they had to share. She also thinks going through the process of tracking down and setting up interviews was a valuable experience.
Each junior in Skyline’s Communication, Media and Public Policy program participated in the C-SPAN StudentCam contest, producing videos on a host of subjects. Students gave each other feedback to help improve their videos. Principal Casey Elmore said she was proud of the work all of the CMPP students and teachers do every day. “Congratulations Taylor, we couldn’t think of another person who deserves this honor more and we’re glad that C-SPAN recognized the amazing talent that she has and has shared with us.”
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