KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Klamath Union High School held its Digital Media Film Awards Thursday night.
According to Dan Stearns, the CTE Digital Media Teacher for Klamath Union High School, the awards night was all about celebrating student wins in the C-Span Student Cam Film Competition, the KOBI-TV Super Positive Video Contest, and the Klamath Basin Behavioral Health Suicide Prevention Film Competition.
He says the students are just full of potential.
“If you give kids an opportunity to shine, they’ll do it,” Stearns said. “I’m a digital media teacher, I’m here, and I give them the opportunity to shine and that’s really our secret. I just give them the opportunities.”
Stearns says this was Klamath Union’s third time competing in the C-Span competition and they were thrilled that all three of their entries were in the top 150 out of over 3,000 entries.
Elsie Baumann’s film, “Keystone Species” took home third place in the competition’s High School West Division.
She says she didn’t realize how much she would enjoy a challenge like this.
“I never really imagined myself doing video projects,” Baumann said. “It wasn’t really something I was looking into for high school. I just accidentally got put into this class because I wanted to try it out and it’s actually really something that I enjoy. So, it’s been fun.”
The awards night also featured Jenae Rhine, the third place winner for KOBI-TV’s Super Positive Video Contest.
Rhine says her film, “Never Give Up” is about reaching out when you need help and knowing you’re not alone. She says she wanted to make a positive message out of suicide awareness because it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
“We kind of figured that when we spun it that way, it would help people around, really, everywhere,” Rhine said. “It would help people who saw it and people who are struggling with those things to be able to reach out because it’s not a bad thing, a lot of people deal with it, you know?”
Stearns says overall the night is a celebration of all the hard work the students have done this year.
He says these skills help prepare these kids for whatever they do next regardless of if it’s the film industry or not.
“Everything in America now, or in the world, is media. So, it’s either your Tik–Toks or in a written form or graphic design, it’s all having to do with media. So, no matter what field you go into, they utilize these skills,” Stearns said.
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