East Lyme Middle School Student Receives C-SPAN Documentary Award

May 17, 2018
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PICTURED FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: East Lyme Middle School Principal Jason Bitgood, East Lyme Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey R. Newton, Rep. McCarty, Sen. Formica, Rep. Cheeseman, Sachi Vora, East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson, and Atlantic Broadband Vice President and General Manager Charles Hanley.

East Lyme – East Lyme Middle School Student Sachi Vora was recently honored by C-SPAN as a winner of the nationwide documentary competition StudentCam at a ceremony at East Lyme Middle School on Thursday, May 17, 2018.

Vora, an 8th grade student from East Lyme, received a national honorable mention for her documentary “Passing the Torch” and a $250 prize. Her video focused on the importance of upholding the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. This is the second year in a row that Vora has won this award.

Vora (pictured) was congratulated by State Senator Paul Formica, State Representatives Kathleen McCarty and Holly Cheeseman, East Lyme Middle School Principal Jason Bitgood and Superintendent of Schools Jeffrey R. Newton, East Lyme First Selectman Mark Nickerson and Atlantic Broadband Vice President and General Manager Charles Hanley.

In addition to Vora’s documentary being recognized among the middle school age group, three local high school students also received an honorable mention for their documentary “Promoting the General Welfare.” The young filmmakers awarded include Kevin Hricko, Maddie Foerster and Nick Tricarico, all 12th graders at East Lyme High School. The East Lyme students were the only student winners from Connecticut.

StudentCam is C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and nation. This year, students in grades 6-12 were asked to create a short video documentary on a topic related to the new 2018 competition theme, “The Constitution & You: Choose a provision of the U.S. Constitution and create a video illustrating why it’s important to you.”

C-SPAN received a record of 2,985 video submissions from over 5,700 students in 46 states and Washington, D.C. One hundred fifty student and 53 teacher prizes were awarded, totaling $100,000 in prize money. For more information visit www.studentcam.org.