As America celebrated 250 years, Engage has featured weekly conversations exploring the nation’s founding and how those ideals resonate today.
In conjunction with the 250th, C-SPAN’s StudentCam competition challenged middle and high school students to create a documentary examining the current relevance of the Declaration of Independence adopted in 1776.
Students were given two prompts: either explore the Declaration’s influence on a key moment in American history or how the values stated in the document touch on an issue impacting communities today.
More than 4,000 students competed, and a group of three from Winter Park High School is among the winners for their video called, "Consent of the Governed: The Impact of Unchecked Tariffs."
Robin Newton of C-SPAN said the documentary stood out among more than 1,800 submitted because of the students’ creativity, storytelling, and strong interviews.
“They did a good job of bringing it all in to tell a comprehensive story. They spoke with business owners, they spoke with politicians, and so all of that made a difference,” she said.
The Winter Park High School filmmakers are rising seniors Averie Rutishauser and Lucia Lassiter-Sanabria, along with recent graduate Lucas Jaramillo who is headed to UCF. The students chose to explore the impact of tariffs because the issue felt timely and personal.
“We thought about tariffs because we have family members who have small businesses, and we live in a pretty localized community,” said Lucia. “It was important to give them the representation that they deserved.”
Their film challenges any assumptions about what people may think teenagers are paying attention to.
“I think that, especially with Gen Z, people assume a lot that we are not politically aware and we don't really care about politics, we just want to be on our phones all day, and there's this idea that we're lazy, especially with the rise of AI, but I just think that's definitely not true,” Averie said.
“We need to know what's happening because it is our future,” Lucas added. “You need to be aware and know what's happening around you so you can either prevent it, go against it, or fight with it.”
The trio won second prize and $1,500 for their C-SPAN StudentCam video, “Consent of the Governed: The Impact of Unchecked Tariffs.”
