Pocono News Section

Teens Teach Teens with Documentary Movies

Teens Teach Teens with Documentary Movies - Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 5:05PM EST

Reported by: Laurie Monteforte
Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010 @ 05:05pm EST
EAST STROUDSBURG, MONROE COUNTY - East Stroudsburg High School South students didn't just learn about documentaries, they made documentaries. English Teacher Patricia Tiernan said, "I almost cry just thinking about it. That's how proud I am of them."

She teaches tenth graders and decided to try something new this year. It's called Service Learning. She explained, "You teach through service to the community."

Tiernan and a group called Youth Infusion organized a project for the students to create two community service documentaries. One is about pollution. The other is about alcoholism. Student Allissa Ortiz smiled, "It turned out to be huge like an actual movie."

The students shot about 25 hours of video - on their own - they also edited all of that video on their own - and that's on top of their regular English assignments.

Student Andrew Reeves said, "It was tough. A lot of hours." But he also said it was well worth the time. The students learned valuable skills like writing, research and organization. "I think that was like the biggest thing because we had to organize everything," remarked Ortiz.

Wellness Consultant Doctor Donna Hamilton helped the kids. She served as an expert on alcohol related issues. She said, "It was so exciting to me. As soon as I heard about it I thought this was going to be groundbreaking."

It's groundbreaking because in the documentaries teens teach teens. Student Hasana Parham explained, "When you hear it from an older person your like oh - but when you hear it from your own age your like all right maybe I'll listen."