Milestones All Milestones
Jeff Rudkin Helps Students Win Film Festival Award
December 18, 2015
Two students of Jeff Rudkin (IN '07), who teaches video production, social studies and music at Lora L. Batchelor Middle School in Bloomington, won third place at the 2015 Peace in the Streets Global Film Festival and were honored at the United Nations in New York.
Hallie Davis and Lauren Conner's short film "Your Voice Is Valuable" encourages students to stand up to bullies. It follows a text message conversation between two girls who are talking about a classmate behind her back. When one of the girls takes things too far, the other stands up for the classmate and ends the conversation.
At Batchelor Middle, Rudkin created an elective video and media production program known as B-TV (Batchelor Television). His students have created documentaries, weekly newscasts, public service announcements and filmed interpretations of classic literature. Rudkin's students also created a six-part, nine-hour documentary featuring stories of World War II veterans and Holocaust survivors, along with a 270-page book. His students have won over 100 state, national and international awards.