CHARLES WRIGHT ACADEMY SENIOR WINS PRIZE IN NATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING COMPETITION

C-Span Visits Tacoma Private School Campus to Award Prize

Charles Wright Academy senior Rory Reshovsky was named a third-place prize winner in C-SPAN’s 2014 student film competition, StudentCam, and C-SPAN visited the campus of the Tacoma private school last week to recognize his achievement.

StudentCam is C-SPAN's annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation. This year, students were asked to create a short (five- to seven-minute) video documentary answering the question, “What’s the most important issue the U.S. Congress should address in 2014?”

Rory’s entry, I Do, focuses on same-sex marriage. Featured are Warren Read and Shayne Chandler—a same-sex couple of 19 years who are parents and have been married in Oregon, Canada, and Washington state—about how laws in various states and countries have affected their family. Rep. Derek Kilmer also appears in the documentary to share his belief in marriage equality. “I think the ability of someone to form a family with the person they love is a human right,” Rep. Kilmer says in the film. News clips of pundits and politicians arguing over the issue are interspersed throughout.

During C-SPAN’s campus visit, Community Relations Representative Doug Hemmig presented Rory with a certificate for his achievement as well as a $750 cash prize. Rohan Shrikhande, the constituent services manager from Rep. Kilmer’s Bremerton office, was also on campus to deliver a proclamation that Rep. Kilmer had entered into the Congressional record. Rory also had the opportunity to tour the C-SPAN bus, now in its 21st year on the road visiting cities, schools, and universities across the country to promote C-SPAN’s educational and political resources for students, teachers, and community members.


Rory is one of seven students from four schools in Washington state to win an honor in this year’s competition. “Rory is an extraordinary young man,” says David Bishop, Upper School and performing arts technology coordinator, who will receive $125 to put toward new equipment. “In addition to having an innate sense for how things work—a true aptitude for engineering—he has a well-developed and artistic sense of composition.”
More than 4,800 middle- and high-school students in 46 states and Washington, D.C., submitted entries to the ninth annual competition. “StudentCam serves as a yearly reminder that young people are not only passionate about issues of national significance, but their ideas and opinions are also worthy of our consideration,” says Craig McAndrew, C-SPAN Manager of Education Relations. “The level of critical thought, effort, and initiative that students have demonstrated in creating their documentaries is inspiring, and we are thrilled to share this year’s winning videos with both Congress and the public.”

You can watch the winning video in its entirety here.