A group of students from Madison Park Technical Vocational high school had a pleasant surprise this month when they learned a video they shot in November received an honorable mention in the White House Student Film Festival, out of a field of 1,500 entrants.
This year, students in the school’s communication arts program produced a bi-weekly online video series entitled The Eye to spotlight happenings in their local community. In one of their episodes, they followed another group of Madison Park students as they organized a luncheon for local veterans associated with the Roxbury-based group 60+ Veterans. The organizers were part of Madison Park’s Allied Health program, which trains students to become medical, nursing and dental assistants.
Madison Park students are required to choose a major at the end of their 9th grade, following a year of exploration in the various fields open to them. Ms. Opal Hines-Fisher, a teacher in the Allied Health program, says that in their eleventh and twelfth grade years, students have a full day of vocational hands-on learning every other week.
While the video focuses on a special holiday luncheon, the Allied Health program participants have developed a long-term collaboration with the veterans through their involvement in a series of workshops. That experience has enabled them to engage with seniors and guest speakers about critical issues facing aging populations. Hines-Fisher says the joint effort helps young people get a more direct experience with a group to which they might not otherwise be exposed prior to their entrance into the medical field.
A communications teacher who helped students produce The Eye, Thato Mwosa, says that when she heard about the White House call for video submissions, she submitted five clips. She was surprised to hear just a few weeks ago that the students’ submission had received recognition.
Still, she says, it’s important to give credit where credit is due. “Our job was simply to capture the hard work that’s done by students [in Allied Health] – they are the ones that do the hard work of serving the food.”
The students involved in the film received a certificate from the White House and placement on the White House’s YouTube playlist of honorable mention submissions. Their entry was constrained by the competition’s 3-minute time limit, but the full episode can be viewed at https://vimeo.com/115177721.
The White House Student Film Festival received 1,500 submissions this year, the second year of the competition. This year’s theme was “The Impact of Giving Back.”
Interim Superintendent John McDonough offered his congratulations. “As always, I remain proud of our Madison Park Technical and Vocational High School programs, students and community,” he told the Banner. “The White House Student Film Festival award is testimony to our students’ passion, talent and dedication to their craft. I am not surprised by this accomplishment.”
Madison Park Technical Vocational High School recently made news after the school committee voted March 11 to cut the school’s per-student funding by $1.5 million due to an anticipated decline in enrollment for this coming fall. Boston Public Schools spokesperson Denise Snyder told the Banner that the decrease was due to a new enrollment process that the school implemented this year, which has since been modified. For this reason, and due to BPS projections that enrollment will increase again this year, the school district plans to supplement the school’s enrollment-based funding by $3.45 million for Madison Park’s FY2016 budget.
Madison Park headmaster Al Holland told the Banner that he was “very thankful” for the supplementary funds and had received a commitment from both the Mayor and the Superintendent to ensuring the school’s success. “It’s a great school for providing young people with opportunities not only for their education, but also for their career,” Holland said.
