Films by Altadena, Cypress Students to be Screened at White House

Films made by students from Altadena and Cypress will be among 16 shown at the White House today at the inaugural White House Student Film Festival.

Aaron Buangsuwon, an 11th grader at Pasadena's Polytechnic School who lives in Altadena, shot a video titled "Alex," about his brother to show how technology is helping children with dyslexia or dysgraphia learn in a modern school environment.

Kayla Briet from Cypress submitted "Stay Curious: Technology in the Classroom," which focuses on how technology can foster creativity and strong academic performances.

The festival is a competition for students from kindergarten through 12th grade to create short films on how technology is used in their classrooms, the roles technology will play in education in the future and to support learning in such fields as science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

More than 2,000 videos were submitted and 16 were selected for the festival. They will be screened in four groups -- "Young Visionaries," "Future Innovators," "World of Tomorrow" and "Building Bridges."

They will be presented by actor Kal Penn; Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium and host of the upcoming Fox Broadcasting series, "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey;" television personality Bill Nye -- "the science Guy"; and American Film Institute President and CEO Bob Gazzale.

Buangsuwon's film is in the "Building Bridges" group and Briet's in the "Young Visionaries."

The event is intended to showcase the power of technology to boost learning and the Obama administration's commitment to connect 99 percent of students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology within five years, according to the White House.

In connection with the festival, President Barack Obama will announce that Adobe will make available more than $300 million of free software to teachers and students, including Photoshop, and Prezi, a software tool for creating memorable presentations, will provide $100 million in Edu Pro licenses for high schools and educators throughout the nation.

—City News Service