Are humans the most invasive species? Is there hope for the piping plover? Why are there so many coyotes in Northern Michigan? Early this spring, the young documentarians set out to get some answers to these and other questions. Nature Change is happy to present their short videos!
This past school year, student groups from Traverse City West Middle School set out to create short documentaries on changes in our regional environment. These students chose the subjects, developed the research questions, interviewed experts and worked with advanced video editing software to create the seven mini-documentaries presented here on Nature Change. (Click here for more on the process.)
In this project, the students were guided by award winning science teacher Tara DenHerder with support from Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS), the UpNorth Media Center, Grand Traverse Stewardship Initiative, and Nature Change. The mini-docs were formally presented to the public for the first time on June 10th at the Traverse City State Theater. The event included a film-makers’ panel discussion about the making of each video and the important lessons learned.
Please join Nature Change in congratulating these young documentarians on their new video productions. These videos are packed with information and reflect the real hopes and concerns of this 8th Grade science class.
Please watch these videos! We think this is a pretty great project! Let us know what you think about the videos and this project in the comment section below.
To view these videos, just click on the images below.
Producers: Maggie Wentzloff, Ella Rintala, Erin Keenan, and Lainey Wickman
Producers: Jolee Given, Mackenzie Cronk, Grace Westerhuis, Margeurite Church, and Elliot Smith
Producers: Baylor Baldwin, Luc Buttleman, Keegan Sutherland, Caleb Nowak, and Drew Moeggenberg
Producers: Madeline Henry, Emily Hart, Meredith Gallagher, Capri Hathaway, Kaleigh Marshall, Aidan Knipe, and Tanner Motley
Producers: Kassidy Caugh, Jonah Ensign, Kindred Burke, Anna Racine, and Ayla Weldon
Producers: Zach Featherstone, Gavin Brown, Hunter Brisbois, and Will Winter
Producers: John Val Klein, Monty Roehler, Henry Melcher, and Riley Sheffer
A very professional grade production. Very impressive! The topic and content were equally impressive and of great interest. I am amazed this was done by middle school students. Thank you