By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer
Photo/Ed Karvoski Jr.
Hudson – Hudson High School (HHS) graduates Arianna Silva, class of 2009, and Cameron Ciesluk, class of 2010, share many interests. Each also graduated from Worcester State College (WSC), where she majored in visual art and minored in communications, and he studied communications and broadcast media. Now, each is working at HHS and fundraising for $2,500 to create a documentary of students travelling to Peru during April break.
Adjusting to their different roles upon returning to HHS has taken them a while, noted Silva, now a long-term paraprofessional.
“We’re still transitioning into calling the teachers here by their first names,” she acknowledged with a laugh.
Other aspects of the job have been a smoother transition, according to Ciesluk, now HUD-TV cable-access producer at HHS.
“I knew about the equipment and how the cable station runs because I took classes here,” he said. “And it was nice that we already knew everybody coming into the job.”
They also knew that each year June Murray, a world cultures teacher, takes 30 students to Peru. There, the students learn about culture, travel, limited technology and community service.
Silva is grateful for lessons she learned from Murray.
“I took classes with June Murray in high school and I adore her,” she said. “She’s really passionate about what she’s teaching.”
Silva and Ciesluk understand the value of an international experience after filming a short documentary last year in Costa Rica while WSC students in an ecotourism and photography class.
“It’s important to expose the students to people in another country doing the same things that we do in a different way,” Ciesluk said.
Community service for the high school students begins long before they board the plane. They’re visiting Hudson’s three elementary schools and teaching the younger students about Peru. The lessons will culminate with the elementary school students making books based on the lessons, which the high school students will bring and donate to Peruvian children.
The filmmakers are particularly interested in documenting how the high school students will react to the limited technology while in Peru.
“Part of the trip where we’re going you can get there only by boat and they don’t have electricity,” Silva noted. “It will be a chance for the students to disconnect from all the outside world and focus on the moment. We really want to capture that in the documentary.”
When the students return they’ll host “The Amazon Night” at HHS with presentation boards and photographs displaying their community service. Some of Silva’s photos of the trip will also be displayed and the documentary will be screened.
“I’m donating photographs to sell to help finance some of the costs for next year’s trip participants,” Silva said. “And hopefully people will want to buy copies of the documentary and that will also be donated back.”
Their combined equipment and travel expenses to Peru will cost $6,000, of which they need to raise $2,500. Perks are being offered as an incentive to donate to the online fundraising campaign. A donation of at least $25 gets a matted photograph of the trip, and at least $50 receives the documentary on DVD.
Donations can be made online through Friday, March 20, at indiegogo.com/projects/amazon-documentary-for-hhs-world-culture-class.
The world cultures class trip to Peru begins Friday, April 17.
“We decided to go on the trip and make a documentary for the students and teachers who are going, for ourselves, and also for Hudson,” Silva said. “People in town will be able to see the impact these students are having on the world, and to see the impact the world is having on the students.”
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