Q.C. video festival tells stories of hope

Mar 5, 2010 — East Valley Tribune

Hayley Ringle

Mar. 5, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- When she was 10 years old, doctors discovered five cysts on Brandy Clark's brain.

At 11, the Queen Creek girl had two surgeries to remove two of the cysts, and she had to relearn how to walk, talk and eat.

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A month later, her 42-year-old dad died of a heart attack. And then, when she was 18 and a senior at Queen Creek High School, her 37-year-old mom died in a head-on car crash in town.

Clark's life story is one of the 30 motivational and touching stories told digitally in the Queen Creek Adult Education Program's first Digital Storytelling Festival, "Stories from the Heart." The festivities are a celebration of Adult Literacy Week.

Despite the many challenges the now 28-year-old mom of three has endured, Clark is out to show that no matter what comes your way, you can overcome it.

"I gave up after my mom died, and now I'm trying to get my life back together," said Clark, who dropped out of school and is now taking classes to get her GED. "I want to show my kids it's not OK to quit, and I want to do it for myself."

The two- to three-minute stories were shown Wednesday in an upstairs classroom of the Family Resource Center building, next to Queen Creek Middle School, on the southeast corner of Queen Creek and Ellsworth roads.

Dozens of family members, district staff and students watched the short stories unfold on the screen, laughing at some of the photos and dabbing their eyes during the more heart-wrenching stories.

The digital stories were written and put together digitally by students in the adult education programs. The free classes give adults from countries such as Afghanistan, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina the skills to learn English, computers and GED test preparation. The classes are paid for through federal and state money.

Using help from their teacher, Miguel Garcia, for technical work, final editing and grammar issues, the students spent a total of 1,600 hours making the videos, using Windows Movie Maker to pull together personal photos, their voice-over and their choice of song to tell the stories that have made them stronger.

Retention improved 100 percent during the video-making process, said Maria Silva, the program's director.

"They didn't miss one day," Silva said. "It's very exciting. Everything was their idea."

The students even made sandwiches, popped popcorn and put out candy, soda and water for intermission in the lobby of the building. Three audience favorites were chosen using ballots during the video presentations.

Albamar Olea made her video to show that it's never too late to learn English. After moving to Florence from Santiago, Chile, Olea has spent the last six years learning English so she can communicate better with her children's teachers and eventually start teaching again.

Olea moved to the United States with her husband of 20 years, Christian, who sings in the musical group Los Heraldos de Esperanza.

"This (making the videos) was an opportunity to do something new," said Olea, 47, president of the adult program's student council committee. "This helps me with my grammar, confidence and with my communication, and it gives motivation to others to continue learning. It's never too late."

For more information on the Queen Creek Adult Education Program, call (480) 987-5988.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0132-42616002