C-SPAN StudentCam Winners from Klamath Union High School

KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Local students are the creators behind prize-winning C-Span Documentaries.

Klamath Union’s Elsie Baumann, Mia Hidden, and Bryce Petersen were recognized for their films. They put together movies for this year’s C-Span StudentCam Competition on the theme, “Look Forward While Considering the Past.”

Hidden and Petersen received honorable mentions for their films on political polarization and conventional farming, respectively.

Meanwhile, Baumann won 3rd prize in the entire country with her coverage of Bald Eagles in the Klamath Basin. The success didn’t come without challenges though.

Baumann said, “Photographers flush eagles. And so while we were out trying to get natural footage people were just trying to get those like award-winning shots, which is really damaging and I don’t like it when people do that. We don’t like that.”

All students were part of a digital media program at Klamath Union High School spearheaded by teacher Dan Stearns. To get some of the footage used in their documentary students traveled around Oregon and even the country.

Stearns said, “So every year I have a 365-day program. So we have a summer program as well. And so I always take them someplace in the world. So we actually went to Hawaii last year and worked on a farm. So we took that footage and decided to use that.”

Stearns also alluded to future plans for C-Span and hinted at expanding their film reach to an international range.

You can view the winning films at studentcam.org