When Irvington Community Schools (ICS) was notified by the Indiana Charter School Network (ICSN) about its video competition celebrating National School Choice Week (January 20-26), we turned to one of our resident filmmakers, IPA senior Abby Goebel, to do the work. And do she did!

Abby and two other Indiana students were recognized by the ICSN and its partner organization, the Institute for Quality Education (IQE), at a breakfast on Wednesday, January 23. The event, held at the Conrad Indianapolis, included state legislators, school administrators, students, and parents. This proved to be an ideal opportunity to interact with some of the state’s key decision makers, some of whom serve on the senate and house education committees, and talk about upcoming legislation and underscore charter schools’ greatest need: equitable school funding.

Not only did Abby receive the deserved acclaim at the legislative breakfast, she brought along two of her fellow Ravens to enjoy the moment: senior Matthew Guevara and junior Mikaila Taylor. To top it off, Abby was presented a check for $1,000 by IQE. What’s more, she had her photo taken with Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Here, in Abby’s own words, is her overview of the creative and production processes she used to compose her award-winning video:

“When I first heard about the contest I couldn’t think of how to make the video. I didn’t want to just film myself talking because I personally would feel incredibly awkward. And I didn’t have enough time to film an entire video from scratch. I decided to use clips I already had of my friends and school. I have been creating a “One Second A Day” video for senior year and many of those clips are shown in the final video. The contest gave questions to answer in the video so I created a script that answered the questions and explained my school choice — Irvington Prep, of course!”

She continues, “I recorded my voice and then placed the video clips to match what I was talking about; for example, when speaking about my friends, there are videos of my friends. I enjoy editing videos to music, so I chose a free instrumental that I thought sounded happy but with a bittersweet undertone. 

“I used my iPhone 7 camera to record, and three of the clips were filmed with the Osmo Mobile 2 (Gimbal for phones). I then used free software called Video Pad Editor on my laptop. It took about two weeks to come up with the script and then edit everything together. Like I said, I enjoy editing the clips to the music. To do this, I align the videos to the beat of the music. This allows the clips and music to work together to tell the story I want to tell.”

Abby was indeed humbled and thrilled when she received notice of being an award winner. “I was ecstatic! — and shocked that the small video I put together was selected. This contest has given me more confidence in my ability to make videos.” She is planning on following in her older sister’s footsteps by majoring in Film and Media Production at Taylor University (located in Upland, Indiana) next school year.

Abby, ever gracious, concluded, “I honestly don’t know what I’d do without Irvington and the community of friends and teachers I have had the pleasure to meet.”

When it comes to ICS’s involvement in National School Choice Week, Irvington Community Elementary School’s principal Mrs. Dehner summarizes it nicely: “Each year we participate in National School Choice Week – an opportunity to celebrate the great things we do here at ICS, the parents who choose to send their children here, and the idea that your ZIP Code shouldn’t be the only determining factor in where you go to school.”

Learn more about National School Choice Week here: https://schoolchoiceweek.com.