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Schools

Reeling in accolades

High school and college students receive high honors in various categories of the Sol Peska Film Competition.

By MICHELE MILLER
Published February 8, 2006

TARPON SPRINGS - Pasco County students fared well in the fifth annual Sol Peska Film Competition Awards Night held Jan. 28 at St. Petersburg College in Tarpon Springs.

This year, 32 high school and college students entered the Sol Peska contest sponsored by the Friends of the Tarpon Springs Library. Like the Golden Globes to the Oscars, Sol Peska is turning into a bit of a precursor for the Florida Association for Media in Education awards, or FAME, held in the spring, said Courtenay O'Connell, the media specialist at River Ridge High School who also serves on the Sol Peska Film contest committee.

Among the awards Pasco kids took home: Best of Show-High School: Scott Dyl, River Ridge High, For Amanda's Sake; First in Public Service Announcement: Torrie Pringle, Kristen Ervin, Alessia Cammarata and Robert Obenreder, Hudson High, for Extended Media Hours; Second in Public Service Announcement: Scott Dyl, River Ridge High, for A-T Children's Project; and Second in Drama: Kevin Brooks, Wesley Chapel High, for The Visitor.

Add to that, Justin Plish, 19, an alumni of Mitchell High and Marchman Technical Education Center who now attends St. Petersburg College.

He earned the big prize: a $1,000 scholarship for the visual arts. He also took first place in College Level Comedy for The LITTLE Tortilla Boy and another in Documentary, Discovering the Vibrant History of New Port Richey. That five-minute documentary was edited from a 30-minute film produced for the New Port Richey Historical Society while Plish was a student in the video production program at Marchman Technical Education Center.

"It was hard choosing what to cut out," said Plish, who first got his feet wet while doing the morning news show at Seven Springs Elementary School.

Putting a film of any length together is a lot of work.

According to Hudson High's Torrie Pringle, 18, it took two weeks of stop-and-start filming to produce one minute of Gumby-like animation for their public service announcement.

Wesley Chapel High's Kevin Brooks, 17, said he spent four weeks putting his short drama together. "I've been interested (in filmmaking) since I was a little kid. I enjoy putting my own stuff I'd like to see in movies up there, creating my own world," he said, adding that he has hopes of getting accepted into the prestigious film program at Florida State University.

Florida State is also the goal for Best of Show winner, Scott Dyl, 17. His three-minute, 50-second documentary started with the making of a minute-long public service announcement about a rare and fatal children's disease called Ataxia-Telangiectasia, or A-T.

Dyl, who is the executive producer for the morning news show at River Ridge High, got the idea after hearing that the school's Spanish honor society was selling coral colored wrist bands to raise money for A-T. That project was inspired by the work of River Ridge faculty member, Adrienne Zampella, who is featured in Dyl's films. Along with her husband, Mike, and son, Michael, Mrs. Zampella works hard to raise awareness and money for research to find a cure for the disease that, in 2003, took the life of her daughter, 12-year-old Amanda, who was a middle school student at River Ridge.

"Once I heard the story of Amanda, I definitely wanted to get involved," said Dyl."I did the PSA first then the documentary after I realized I had to do more."

Dyl said he was surprised that his little film took the Best of Show award. "I had no idea I would win this. I think the other films technologically were better," he said. "I think it was Amanda's story that won it."

NOTE: Help is needed to make the Sol Peska Film contest more successful. Teachers and media specialists who would be interested in serving on the committee as judges or who want to learn more about how to get their students involved may call Kathy Culhane at (727) 944-3042.

[Last modified February 8, 2006, 01:15:22]