TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

PBS Project Has Local High-Schoolers Filming Election Day

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARILYN BROWN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 31, 2008

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.

"I'm going to film a lot of people who are voting," Santos said today. "On Nov. 4th, they will be choosing for me."

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.

Jim Lehrer, host of "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," was the moderator during the first presidential debate.

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 this morning that 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 before, on and after Election Day.

"I've told them if they don't produce the 10 videos, we pack up the cameras and send them back," said their teacher, Joe Humphrey.

Themes for on-camera interviews include whether Barack Obama's race and John McCain's age are factors in the election, Humphrey said. They also plan to ask students who are 18 and don't intend to vote, why not. Ethan Smith, 17, is asking students whether they would want to be president.

"Fifty percent said yes," he said. "They think it would be cool."

Shorecrest received one camera for the project. 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 or mbrown@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT