Claire Prudhomme, a senior at Montverde Academy, and Georgia Bernbaum, a senior at Winter Park High School, were recognized for their short film entry into the C-SPAN StudentCam, a national student documentary competition. They earned an honorable mention and $250 prize for their six-minute documentary titled, “E Pluribus Unum.”
Since 2006, C-SPAN and its local cable television providers in communities nationwide, invite middle and high school students to produce short documentaries about a subject of national importance. This year, students’ work addressed the theme “What does it mean to be American? Choose a constitutional right, national characteristic, or historic event and explain how it defines the American experience.” Claire and Georgia’s film earned the honorable mention among a record 2,923 entries from 48 states and Washington, D.C. The ladies coordinated busy schedules to find the time to plan, conduct the interviews, edit, produce, and ensure all the details were addressed to produce the best possible product.
“Georgia and I chose the topic of immigration as we are both very interested and concerned with America’s attitude toward immigration this past couple of years,” said Claire. “We have many people close to us who are immigrants, and we know that they are good, humane and loving people and we wanted to express this in the art we know best. My favorite part of this project was the stories I got to hear. For every person I met, I learned about a lifetime of family history in only minutes . ”
“As a strong supporter of civic education to make communities stronger, Comcast proudly partners with C-SPAN for its annual documentary competition, StudentCam,” said Alex Anderson, Senior Manager, Technical Operations for Comcast Cable. “Each year, we are impressed and inspired by Orlando area students’ insight and creativity tackling national issues through their short videos. This year’s winners creatively portrayed what it means to be American. We at Comcast are proud to join C-SPAN in congratulating the winning students in the Orlando area.”
“We take pride in the diverse culture of this Academy and feel the compassion and understanding of world issues gained here allows students like Claire to create such a compelling piece on a topic as multi-faceted as immigration,” said Dean Bell, Montverde Academy Director of the Arts. “Our congratulations to both Claire and Georgia on this recognition.”
