“If you were a newly elected member of Congress, which issue would be your first priority and why?”

StudentCam is C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation.

This year, we asked students in grades 6-12 to create a short (5-6 minute) video documentary on a topic that relates to the competition theme, “If you were a newly elected member of Congress, which issue would be your first priority and why?”

The submission deadline for all entries was Friday, January 20, 2023. With cash prizes totaling $100,000 each year, C-SPAN awards prizes to the top 150 student documentaries. If you are a teacher and listed as an adviser on one of the top 50 winning films, you will also receive a cash award. Since 2004, C-SPAN has awarded over $1.2 million dollars in cash prizes to students and teachers.  https://www.studentcam.org/

Two Mt. View Students; Cristina and Jay have entered the contest.  Here are their documentaries.  Cristina speaks about the economics of homelessness and Jay speaks of the opportunity cost of higher education.  Can you find connections in these topics to something of relevance in your life?  Do you think these issues are a high priority as well?  How do they connect to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.  https://sdgs.un.org/goals