RANDOLPH, Vt. (WCAX) – Students at the Randolph Technical Career Center are using modern technology to bring history to life in a new web-based documentary series.
The students in Lance Madzey’s Digital Film and Media Arts class are getting good with their hands.
“I’m a very creative and artistic person and I feel that this kind of just speaks to me,” said Logan Decoteau, an RTCC senior.
But they are also learning to be good listeners. The students are documenting their town’s past in a series of interviews with people who grew up here.
“I’ve been really into the history of our town for years because I grew up here, I’m a 9th generation,” said Emmaline Caswell, a 10th grader. She chose to interview her mom, a first-generation Vermonter. “My mom really talked about her childhood and I think this is really going to differentiate her interview from other people’s.”
The students are partnering with the local historical society to select the participants. “You know, this is a piece of history that will last and it is something that we will have of this person,” Madzey said.
Some of the video was sourced from outside the school but most is being shot by the students. Editing takes place back in the classroom. However, they are learning much more than just how to produce a story. “How do I get somebody to relax in front of the camera? What kind of research do I have to do? What am I going to need when I go out to talk to they people?” Madzey said.
“The skills that I learned will help me so unbelievably much with owning a business,” said Kalynn Messier, an 11th grader who is interested in cosmetology. “There are so many hidden gems in Randolph and a lot of people don’t know about Randolph.”
“Randolph Remembers” is highlighting some of those gems with help from the community’s younger members. “I think it is cool that we are bringing back historical events that had happened and bring them back into the modern times,” Decoteau said.
One of the interviews is already online and more than a dozen more are in the works. The project is slated to extend into the next school year.
