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Bay Area Students To Document Election For PBS

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By MARILYN BROWN

mbrown@tampatrib.com

Published: November 1, 2008

TAMPA - Josh Santos will miss being able to vote in this election by one day, but he will be at the polls.

On Tuesday, the Hillsborough High School student will document on camera the first-time voting experience of fellow student Justin Lanz.

Santos' brief video could end up on the national news Election Day.

At the least, it will be posted on YouTube.

The students are part of a select group from three Tampa Bay area schools given video cameras by a national television network to help document Tuesday's election.

The videos will be posted on YouTube as part of the Video Your Vote! Project and also will be part of PBS network's "NewsHour Extra" project.

A story featuring the videos is scheduled to be broadcast Election Day and perhaps afterward, said Rob Flynn, vice president of communications for "NewsHour."

Four of the 48 schools in the 24-state project are in Florida, including three local schools: Hillsborough High in Tampa, Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg and Ridge Community High in Davenport. The fourth Florida school is Miami Coral Park Senior High.

Students in the TV production class at Hillsborough High said they have started recording interviews at school, but their major effort will come on Election Day. The class was given two video cameras not much larger than a cell phone to produce 10 short videos.

Shorecrest students plan to set up outside a precinct on Election Day to interview voters and have interviewed early voters, said Wendy Drexler, the teacher organizing the project.

The project was a natural, Drexler said. Her contemporary issues class is studying the effect of the Internet on this election.

Reporter Marilyn Brown can be reached at (813) 259-8069.

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