C‑SPAN’s award-winning, 45-foot customized bus rolled into Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School’s (LOLMS) parking lot on Friday, May 20, with two C-SPAN Community Relations Representatives on board. They had arrived to participate in a ceremony honoring eighth grader Daisy Colvin for her award-winning entry in C‑SPAN’s annual student video documentary competition, StudentCam.
The contest, now in its 11th year, requires entrants “to think critically about issues that affect our communities and nation.” This year, students were asked to create a five to seven minute video documentary on the topic “Road to the White House: What’s the issue YOU most want candidates to discuss during the 2016 presidential campaign?” Colvin’s winning entry was a video titled ‘Gun Control Debate,’ which looked objectively at both sides of the issue.
The whole LOLMS eighth grade gathered in the school’s auditorium and watched attentively while the video was played. Colvin’s video featured Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, who advocated for increased gun control, and East Lyme gun shop owner Ron Rando, who presented the opposing argument.
Interspersed with video clips from C-Span.org (which was a requirement for any video submitted to the contest) showing images of mass-shooting locations and lawmakers speaking on both sides of the argument, Colvin created a powerful, objective video. At the end of the video, she presented her own opinion on the topic, which was that gun laws needed to be enforced and some revisions made to gun laws so that “Together we can make a change.”
C-SPAN Representative Doug Hemmig told the audience that Colvin had done “a wonderful job … and her passion for the subject came through clearly in the video.”
C‑SPAN had received 2,887 video submissions from almost 6,000 students in 45 states and Washington. This represented a record number of entries and Colvin received one of only 150 Honorable Mention awards, something that Hemmig described as “an incredible accomplishment.” Kristen Roberts, Vice President, Public Relations & Community Investment, presented Colvin with a StudentCam certificate of merit and check for $250, and commented that she was “so proud of Daisy.” Roberts noted that in Old Lyme, C-SPAN, which is available locally through Comcast, is “a great partner” for Comcast.
In a press release, Mike Parker, Regional Senior Vice President of Comcast’s Western New England Region, which is headquartered in Connecticut, said, “Comcast is proud to congratulate Daisy on her StudentCam documentary. It’s a rare opportunity to honor students for thinking critically about issues important in our community and across the nation and we are pleased to recognize her locally for her creative achievement.”
Josh Koning, the second C-SPAN Representative, particularly commended the teachers who had assisted Colvin to make her video, saying, “We want to thank the teachers,” adding, “This wouldn’t happen without the teachers.” Colvin explained that her project had been conceived in her Social Studies class and then she had made the video working with the LOLMS Talented and Gifted teacher, William Eydman. Responding to a question from the C-SPAN team as to what she had learned from making the film, she said, “I realized how many gun crimes there are … and learned the other side of the debate.”
The C‑SPAN Bus, now in its 23rd year on the road, partners with local cable providers to visit schools and community events across the country to promote C‑SPAN’s educational and political resources and programming for students, teachers, and the public. Aboard the Bus, teachers and students experience on-board multimedia technology that showcases C‑SPAN’s programming and resources dedicated to showing the American political process.
Through interactive exhibits, visitors learn about the public affairs network’s in-depth coverage of the U.S. Congress, White House, federal courts, and its signature political program, “Road to the White House,” which provides access to all of the Campaign 2016 presidential candidates and their events from the campaign trail, all without editing, commentary, or analysis.
Visit http://www.viddler.com/v/3613162?secret=95288074 to view Colvin’s ‘Gun Control Debate’ video.
Visit www.studentcam.org to watch all the winning videos for 2016.
Editor’s Note: C‑SPAN.org is a searchable, video-rich site that has every C‑SPAN program aired since 1987. The public can access this extensive online collection — over 218,000 hours of political and governmental footage — for free, and share user-generated video clips by email and social media.
Tune in to C‑SPAN’s public affairs programming on the C‑SPAN Networks, C‑SPAN Radio, and c‑span.org. In Old Lyme, C-SPAN can be seen on Comcast channel 15, C-SPAN2 on channel 86 and C-SPAN3 on channel 190. All funding for C‑SPAN operations, including Bus visits, is provided by local TV providers.
Created by the cable TV industry and now in nearly 100 million TV households, C‑SPAN programs three public affairs television networks in both SD and HD; C- SPAN Radio, heard in Washington, DC, at 90.1 FM and available as an App (Android, iPhone, Blackberry); and a video- rich website offering live coverage of government events and access to the vast archive of C‑SPAN programming.
Visit http://www.c-span.org for coverage and schedules; follow C-SPAN on Facebook/cspan and @cspan on Twitter.