STAR students win notice in Venice

By Levi J. Long
Special to the Times

LEUPP, Ariz., Sept. 22, 2011

http://www.navajotimes.com/education/2011/0911/092211star.php

At STAR School, a group of creative youngsters are showcasing their talents and voices on a worldwide cinematic stage.
"I like to put a lot of heart into my films," said freshman Kira Butler, 14, whose film work at STAR School has already taken her across the U.S. and to Italy. "Through filmmaking I understand who I am in the world community."

Located 15 miles northwest of Leupp, STAR School serves mostly Navajo students from preschool to 8th grade.

Nestled among rolling hills with vistas of the San Francisco Peaks, the rural school is the first off-the-grid campus in the country powered by wind and solar energy.

Now STAR School is gaining another reputation for its 3-year-old media arts program that connects Native American youth with their culture, community and themselves.

"When it comes to mainstream media, indigenous youth are often seen in the negative or are portrayed as historical or cultural subjects in the past," said Rachel Tso, the media arts educator who developed the film curriculum. "It's important for students to represent themselves using their own voice, not someone else's."

Students from fifth to eighth grade can learn the nuts and bolts of film making: script writing, researching topics, interview techniques, capturing video and sound, editing, acting and public speaking.

The main focus is on what Tso terms "place-based media arts."

"It describes what we're doing with our students through film," she said. "It reconnects kids with their community, reconnects their place in the community and reconnects them with their family, including their elders."

After wrapping an on-camera interview, Nole Yazzie, 13, an 8th-grader, wants to remind people of tribal history. His student group is working on a documentary about the Navajo's Long Walk with interviews of local elders.

"My hope is it brings back those stories. It's been over 100 years, it's important to talk about and not forget," he said.

Films subjects have ranged from heritage foods, sustainable living, traditional Navajo peacemaking and making artificial snow from reclaimed wastewater for a ski area on the San Francisco Peaks. 

http://azdailysun.com/entertainment/star-filmmakers-tell-their-stories/article_007e4d7b-bbc6-5bbb-9e2c-ad0da8110cb0.html?mode=story

BETSEY BRUNER Arts & Culture Editor | Posted: Sunday, July 31, 2011 5:10 am |

Taylor Long, left, and Larissa Luther, both 12, stand next to their media instructor, Rachel Tso, inside the multi-purpose room Thursday morning at STAR Charter School on Leupp Road. They are standing in front of the backdrop they normally use when conducting film interviews. The students have taken two summer video workshops with Tso and are members of her regular media arts class, which began July 20 at the school. They helped on "Redbird Saves the Corn," one of the five STAR student films being shown at the annual Navajo Festival of Arts and Culture next weekend.

(Betsey Bruner/Arizona Daily Sun)

In the shade of a strawbale building on the campus of STAR Charter School, two girls hovered over the viewscreen on an HD video camera, wondering why they couldn't see the image better.

"It's a neutral density filter," explained Rachel Tso, their media art instructor. "When you're outside, you need the ND filter."

The students, Taylor Long and Larissa Luther, both 12, worked this summer on the film "Redbird Saves the Corn," which is a traditional Spider Woman story told through lightbox animation.

THEIR VOICE HEARD

Tso is in her third year of teaching film students at STAR, a K-6 school located about 25 miles northeast of Flagstaff on Leupp Road.

It is the nation's first solar-powered, off-the-grid public school campus.

Students pick their subject matter for films, often dealing with culture and sustainable living.

Digital Storytelling / Place-Based Media Arts Workshop for Teachers, Site Coordinators, and Administrators

September 24 and 25, 2011 at the STAR School, Lead by Rachel Tso.

Workshop Will Cover:

This workshop is only open to participants from the Navajo Peacemaking / Safe Schools Project Consortium: Borrego Pass, Shonto Prep, Little Singer, Chilchinbeto, and STAR School.

Hello all, and welcome to our new website. This is the news and announcements area. We will let you know about great new happenings NEED TO KNOW kind of things here at STAR School right here on this page. The latest announcements always have links posted on the left sidebar of our home page. There is also a link called "News" on the main top menu of every page of our site. So you should have no trouble finding the latest information.

Here are some of the great things you will find on the website:

• A great School calendar that will let you know all the vacations and major holidays, as well as sports, administrative, and other need to know events like field trips.
• Check out all the latest STAR School Videos on the STAR School video channel.
• Learn all about Safe and Healthy Schools and the Peacemaking Project in the Safe Schools Portal.
• Take a peek inside our preschool classroom.
• Find out if today is a snow day on the front page of our website or in our transportation section.

Enjoy the new site!