In and Out

Story by Phillip Pyle »

High school seniors can face pressure concerning their future plans. They are often asked questions like: Are you going to college? Where are you working? What are you majoring in? What really comes after graduation? The pressure and stresses seem to subside after the end of high school, but that period of peace doesn’t last long.

College and postsecondary careers represent the real world, and what awaits these recent grads is likely more stressful than high school.  This shows in the School District of Eudora’s Effective Rate, which is 36%. The effective rate portrays the two-year retention rate for Eudora graduates in college, technical school, technical programs and vocational school

Eudora Seniors Leslie Douglas, Kayla Hernandez, Haley Hoffmann, Phillip Pyle and Fabian Rosales set out to find answers as to why this percentage is so low. They decided to take the route of creating a documentary, which is a category in the media festival/competition eMagine. The Group traveled to Topeka to discuss postsecondary rates with Kansas Department of Education Commissioner Dr. Randy Watson.

“Eudora, from a high school graduation perspective, and from a postsecondary effective rate, are both below the state averages from a district perspective,” said Dr. Watson.

This fact was unknown to the students creating the documentary and sparked their interest even more. Watson’s interview is just a portion of the now finished documentary, “In and Out”, which will compete against other area schools’ documentaries.

Senior Leslie Douglas was the editor for “In and Out.” This was no easy task, as the project took over 30 hours to edit using Premiere Pro.

“Once we actually started the project, we realized that it was definitely a lot bigger than we thought it was going to be,” said Douglas, “We were really passionate about finding an answer because it related to us, so we didn’t really mind when it took up a lot of our time.”

Video Productions teacher Mr. Robinson is proud of the group’s accomplishments and is excited for the Eudora community to see what they have created. However, at first, he was wary about the timeline of the documentary.

“I thought it was cool to see a group of individuals take on something in such a short amount of time and actually complete it,” said Robinson.

Robinson enjoyed seeing the group learn as they faced new experiences.

“Creating the video but actually learning about something that is so much bigger than a school day,” said Robinson, “You guys got to see the things that no one sees, even parents or students. We don’t just come up with stuff without a reason.”

You can find “In and Out” on the Cardinal Video Productions Youtube Channel, Facebook Page, or Twitter Page. Douglas, Hernandez, Hoffmann, Rosales and Pyle, along with Mr. Robinson and the rest of the Video Production II class, have high hopes for “In and Out” and the other submissions for eMagine, which will be held on March 24 at Olathe Northwest High School

“Going off the content that I’ve seen in years past,” said Robinson, “I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t make top five.”