• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pieces of Paradise: Ohio High School Students Spend Time in Bay St. Louis to Understand and Record How Hurricane Katrina Left Only

Posted on: Saturday, 24 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Roger Drinnon, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Jun. 24--The Bay-Waveland Middle School Cafetorium will host a showing of a Hurricane Katrina video documentary at 7 p.m. Sunday, due to the efforts of some North Canton, Ohio, high school students and their teachers.

The one-time, free showing of "Pieces of Paradise," a 45-minute depiction of the impact of Katrina on Bay St. Louis, is the culmination of the Hoover High School video production and broadcast journalism classes' efforts to reach out to residents of Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

"Making our documentary was not only a great experience as high school students, but as journalists and editors as well," said Brittany Wasko, a Hoover broadcast journalism student who took part in the video production. "Our team was able to somewhat grasp part of the areas that were destroyed in the South, and to understand how peoples' lives were just turned completely around. It was such a proud feeling to produce something that really told such an amazing human-interest story."

Wasko said she conducted all of the reporting and interviewing for the video with the help of fellow broadcast journalism student Courtney Mooney.

"We interviewed over 20 students, staff and communities from Bay High School and Bay St. Louis," said Wasko. "When we returned home, we had over 16 hours of raw footage to work with, which was such a tedious task, but it's what we love, so for the most part, it was enjoyable."

Talent, friendship

Shortly after Katrina, the North Canton high school's staff and students offered their support in helping Bay High School to recover from the effects of the storm.

"I received an e-mail in early fall from the associate principal of Hoover High School proposing a partnership between the two schools and discussing how students and staff wanted to help Bay High School financially," said Amanda Breckenridge, Bay High School Academy coordinator. "The common link between the two schools is curriculum-based," she continued. "HHS

and BHS both have a video productions class and a journalism class."

Breckenridge said Tom Wilson, Hoover's video productions instructor, and Valeta Drake, the school's broadcast journalism instructor, worked with Gayle Moore, BHS' video production instructor, and Jaime Council, BHS' journalism instructor, to arrange a visit whereby Hoover's students could get a firsthand look at what happened to their "sister school."

"What a winning combination of talent and instant friendship," said Breckenridge. "The 11 HHS students who traveled south instantly bonded with BHS students. (The Hoover students) stayed a week and worked eight to 10 hours a day to make this documentary and to get a real feel for the forever-changed lifestyles we are living post-Katrina."

Wilson said his students learned more than video production and editing.

"This is something our students train for," said Wilson. "We teach almost like a college-type program for film and television. You would hope, as a teacher, that your students are going to learn about the techniques of filming and editing -- which they did," he continued. "But I think the greater lesson for them was in seeing the devastation... I think immediately they made a deep connection with the students at Bay (High School)."

Life-changing experience

Wilson said he perceived a change in his students as they worked on the video. "It was a life-changing experience in a lot of ways for the students, because they are from a nice, sheltered, middle-class community, but when they have a chance to see something as devastating as Katrina... I think it taught them a lot of lessons about materialism -- that you really don't need all the things that you have."

Wilson also said he and his students were inspired by the spirit of community displayed by Bay St. Louis, as the residents "stuck together" in Katrina's aftermath.

Wasko said she and most of her fellow students, now graduated from Hoover, plan to pursue careers related to video production. She said she'll attend Kent State University as a broadcast journalism major this fall, and she currently works as a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Slidell. She said her experience in Bay St. Louis has taught her to appreciate everyday life.

"This experience for me was so eye-opening," said Wasko. "In my opinion, I think that every high school student needs to see the damage that Katrina has done. Young kids don't know how good they have it; it may do them a bit of good to see and meet kids who were directly affected by this storm," she continued. "More than anything, I think I have learned how much I take for granted on a daily basis. I really need to appreciate what I have and realize how quickly everything I own can be taken from me in an instant."

The video documentary, "Pieces of Paradise," will be premiered to the residents of Bay St. Louis and Waveland.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday. The video is about 45 minutes.

Where: Bay-Waveland Middle School Cafetorium, located behind Bay High at 600 Pine St.

Etc.: A limited number of DVD copies of the video production will be available at Sunday's showing.

------------

Documentary premiere

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Miss.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

NYSE:DNB,

Source: The Sun Herald (Biloxi, Miss.)

More News in this Category