Walking into the fieldhouse, English teacher Sara Berghoff realized there was nothing on the video boards set up in the stadium. To solve this, the mass media course was born.

The class was set up this year for students to provide content to be played on the fieldhouse video boards. Students create different videos relating mostly to sports. They play videos on the boards during events held in the fieldhouse.

As winter sports are coming to an end, mass media students no longer have to make videos for the fieldhouse. They are being challenged to think outside the box and are joining a teen film festival.

The film festival will be hosted at the Greenwood Public Library. Submissions must be in by April 23. Students can submit a feature film, documentary, music video or a book trailer.

According to Berghoff, this is a chance to be really creative with their work. SHS alumnus Kobe Tasker submitted a music video he made for SPTV last year. He used what he learned in the class and sent a video in. He did not win, but Berghoff says if they had more time to work on it he could have won.

“I think with a little more time and actually making something specifically for the contest, we’ve got some good odds,” Berghoff said.

Students from around the state work to submit videos for this contest. There is one winner and four runner-ups. The winner receives $400 and the runner-ups receive $125. Berghoff says she believes the students in the class do have a chance at winning this year.

Senior and mass media student Diego De La Vega’s idea for his submission is to educate people about the Burmese community. He says many people don’t understand their community and want to focus on educating people about the community.

Berghoff and De La Vega both believe this is an opportunity for students to create something new and exciting. The class is going to be working on this until May 2.

“I think the purpose of the film festival is to see what creative people we have in the state of Indiana since we’re not big in the country for arts, as far as I know,” De La Vega said. “It would be cool to get people to share ideas to the world from Indiana.”