8th-graders win national C-SPAN award

A documentary produced by two Batchelor Middle School students will air in April after it was honored for a national student award Feb. 22. \nC-SPAN’s StudentCam student documentary contest awarded Brendan Michaelson and Carl Sonnefeld second prize for their documentary titled “Violent Video Games.” The video will air before “Washington Journal Live” at 7 a.m. on April 17, said Joanne Wheeler, vice president of education relations at \nC-SPAN. \nWheeler said the StudentCam competition began in 2003 to find out what middle and high school students have on their minds. She added the main goal of the contest is to share the students’ thoughts with the C-SPAN audience.\n“It’s interesting for both the parents and students,” Wheeler said.\nWheeler said C-SPAN received more than 300 video submissions this year on topics such as health care, video games, religion and politics.\nThis was not the first time Batchelor Middle School has participated in the contest. Jeff Rudkin, Batchelor Middle School’s video production teacher, said his class has participated for the last three years. He said students began working on the videos in October for the December deadline and spent about 20 to 30 hours total on the project.\n“It’s a great learning experience,” Rudkin said. \nRudkin said students must interview guests with opposing viewpoints, which caused students to learn to respect different opinions. He said the documentary required interviews of experts in the community such as doctors, lawyers and professors. Rudkin also said the documentary served as a strong video journalism assignment that improved editing skills.\nMichaelson said he developed the idea after he saw \na CNNarticle. Sonnefeld said the main purpose was to show both sides of the argument – those who believe in government interference and those who do not.\nSonnefeld said he was surprised by the award.\n“It was like a whirlwind hit me,” he said. \nWinning in student documentary competition is nothing new, however. Rudkin said Batchelor participates in about 25 youth film and video festivals, with a great deal of success. \n“Batchelor students are consistent winners in national and international competitions every year,” Rudkin said.