“Very time consuming, very stressful, very awesome!” is how senior Sinjun Strom summed up her production experience at the 3rd annual VOICES screening of student made documentaries.

The documentaries assigned approximately two and a half months ago were an enriching experience Strom said. “They really taught me the importance of planning and time management.”

Senior Maeve whalen shared the sentiment. “It was really good to learn how to work with people outside of a high school setting.”

    This is exactly what VOICES teacher Erik Taggert wants students to take from both the project and the class. “It’s not just about learning about a subject, it’s about learning real world skills.”

The project was also supported by local public access channel the Minneapolis Television Network, or MTN. Students were given editing help on sunday afternoons, and the documentaries aired on the network with projects from earlier in the year. In addition, MTN compiled student discussion classroom footage and student projects into VOICES “episodes” that aired on the channel mondays at 8:00 PM.

All of the student documentaries were put together to form the March 18th screening. It lasted about an hour and a half with each documentary taking between 7 and 10 minutes.

After the show VOICES teacher Tanya Hodge was filled with enthusiasm. “The project required lots of interaction with people and the community, and THAT is where real learning happens!”