The video productions course that is taught by teacher Katie Meserko has only been a part of De Soto High School for two years. This year, students were given the opportunity to create their own documentaries about any topic they would like. 

Junior Lucy Ruiz decided that she wanted to make her project about a topic she was passionate about: the income inequality crisis. 

“Coming from a low-income family myself, this topic really hit home,” Ruiz said. 

Ruiz’s inspiration for this project stemmed from the With and Against the Grain unit in the English course AP Language and Composition, taught by Phillip Hamilton. Ruiz feels as if this interactive unit not only opened her eyes but also helped her see numerous inequalities within society. 

“Going into depth about [income inequality] really opened my eyes up to the fact that students from lower-income families are forced to overcome a great amount of disadvantages while other students are not,” Ruiz said.

Ruiz’s classmate, junior Kylee Collins, grew a great appreciation for the documentary and was able to learn more about the De Soto community from it.

“I knew that poverty was an issue in De Soto, but I never truly understood how many students struggled financially. It was also interesting hearing the students’ personal experiences,” Collins said.

Not only was Collins affected by the film, but she felt the whole class was greatly impacted.

“This documentary was able to connect with every single student in the room, and I think that’s what truly hit home for everyone,” Collins said.

Meserko felt that the documentary not only possessed a good story, but it also was visually appealing.

“My first impressions of the documentary was how well done the story was. Lucy really took the time to interview people, get their stories and followed them around to get captivating raw footage,” Meserko said.

Although Lucy’s documentary has already made a positive impact and discussed a meaningful topic that is prevalent within the De Soto community, she plans to enhance the film as a whole. 

“I plan on going back and refilming a few portions of my interviews and also getting some better B-roll before presenting it,” Ruiz said.