Lowell, MA - On Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 the final video productions of six current and former Lowell High School students were screened to an audience of 70 viewers during the Lowell’s Young Producers' Forum held at the Lowell National Historical Park Visitor Center, Lowell, MA. The students, under the direction of Sambath Bo, Youth Media Coordinator at Lowell Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), spent the last six months investigating and documenting their experiences living in Lowell and growing up and attending high school within Lowell National Historical Park (LNHP).
Words of encouragement and inspiration came from guest speakers James Higgins, a local digital media artist, and Ryan Gifford, an assistant editor of “National Parks: America’s Best Idea". Both took time out from their schedules to be with the students on this night. Prior to showing a film clip of "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" Mr. Gifford spoke about his road to becoming an assistant editor and his work on the National Park project.
The students’ projects were then screened and a question and answer session followed, moderated by Sambath Bo. The students answered questions ranging from their knowledge of film and video production to an invitation to present their program to middle school students at Lowell’s Lincoln School.
The forum project was a partnership of Lowell National Historical Park and Lowell Telecommunications Corp. Funding was made possible by the National Park Foundation, through a grant supporting projects connecting broad audiences to themes related to the National Park Service in anticipation of "The National Parks: America's Best Idea", a mini-series by Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan which recently premiered on public television.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
