Two Elysian Students Win National Award

Elysian Charter School students, for the third time in four years, have won a national award in the C-SPAN 2012 StudentCam Competition.

This year, eighth graders Matthew DeLorenzo and Josiah Vega got the second prize in the national competition for their short film,“The Great Debate." The prize comes with a $1,500 grant. 

The film was picked out of more than 1,200 submissions. 

The C-SPAN Educational Bus will make visit the Elysian Charter School on Friday May 11 to present the award to DeLorenzo and Vega. Mayor Dawn Zimmer and other local officials are also expected to attend.

C-SPAN's annual video documentary competition, designed for students in sixth through twelfth grades, inspires students to think about issues that affect their communities. This year's topic was "the Constitution and You."

Filmmakers were instructed to select any provision of the U.S. Constitution and create a video illustrating whyit’s important to them.

DeLorenzo and Vega chose the Eighth Amendment as it relates to cruel and unusual punishment. Their video also includes clips from the Republican Debate on September 8.  

"Matthew and Josiah had a great deal of passion for this project and that came through in the finished piece," said Aram Rubenstein Gillis, Elysian’s Artist in Residence and Faculty Advisor. "These budding filmmakers were able to create a provocative story that inspired reflection and debate. We are proud of their effort and congratulate them on this fantastic accomplishment."