Lau wins C-SPAN documentary contest
SPAN on Thursday, Mar. 19 during 5th period in the C-SPAN tour bus.
By Emily Kim,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–
Each year, the Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN) national organization holds a StudentCam contest in which more than 5,000 students nationwide submit a five to seven minute documentary about a provided video prompt.
The contest begins in September of each school year and in March, the organization, C-SPAN honors 150 students with a cash reward and the title of winning the prestigious award.
On Thursday, Mar. 19, senior Krystal Lau was presented with the award, making her the first ever student at Davis High to receive the honor.
Lau, who made her documentary about Obama’s proposal to provide two free years of community college, is grateful to receive the award but places more emphasis on the creation of the actual video.
“I feel happy I got this award, but really I’m so thankful for all the interviewees. They really taught me new perspectives and proved how broad the spectrum [of opinions] at DHS is,” Lau said.“I’ve only ever mainly talked to students in my AP classes who are going to Princeton or Northwestern, so it was really enlightening to learn other students’ viewpoints on college and what they hoped to gain from that experience.”
The contest is meant for grades six through 12 and encourages students to think about issues that affect their peers and community.
“Film making is more of a hobby for me but I think it’s a great thing to know how to make documentaries, no matter your field of study. It’s good for networking and building contacts,” Lau said.
Career Center Coordinator Julie Clayton was featured in Lau’s documentary and is happy for Lau’s win, but agrees that the short film was greatly beneficial to DHS students as well.
“It draws attention to the community college discussion as well as to the fact that the president has suggested making community college free. Many students may not know about that but now that she’s made this documentary, it draws attention to the conversation that community college is a great option and a cheap or maybe even free option,” Clayton said.
Unfortunately, a glitch in the planning of the awards ceremony prevented students from going to see the event, which was held during fifth period on Mar. 19.
