Sophomore Alexander Macina was honored for his video, "Following the Money Down Pennsylvania Avenue."
 

L-R, Peter M. Taubkin, of Time Warner Cable, town of Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan, North Colonie Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg, Assemblyman Bob Reilly, Shaker Principal Richard Murphy, Shaker CTE teacher Kevin Smith and C-SPAN Spokeswoman Tamara Robinson.

May 22, 2009 - It's not every day that a high school student wins a national award for producing a video documentary, so it's a special occasion when it happens three years in a row, which is the case with Shaker High School sophomore Alexander Macina.

That's why the C-SPAN Civics Bus stopped by Shaker High on Friday, May 22. Macina won a third prize award in C-SPAN’s StudentCam 2009 contest for his video documentary, "Following the Money Down Pennsylvania Avenue." This was the third year in a row that one of Macina's videos has won an award from C-SPAN.

"It's an honor to have someone who is a repeat winner," C-SPAN spokeswoman Tamara Robinson said at a ceremony at the high school on Friday.

Watch the video and an interview with Alex.

The ceremony was held in the high school's video production room, and Macina was also congratulated by New York State Assemblyman Bob Reilly, town of Colonie Supervisor Paula Mahan, Superintendent Randy Ehrenberg, Shaker Principal Richard Murphy, and Peter M. Taubkin, vice president of Time Warner Cable.

Assemblyman Reilly, who was the star of Macina's video, said that while news reports are often negative, today was a day of good news.

"Events like this contribute to the community," he said. "People can see what the district is doing to educate our students."

Supervisor Mahan, a former North Colonie teacher, told Macina he has made the community proud, while Superintendent Ehrenberg reflected the thoughts of many people when she said she couldn't wait to see his next video.

For his part, Macina thanked Assemblymen Reilly and Ron Canestrari for their willingness to speak with him for his documentary. He also thanked his parents and C-SPAN.

"I really do appreciate Time Warner and C-SPAN for putting together a competition like this," he said.

The StudentCam national competition, now in its fifth year, invited middle school and high school students to produce a five- to eight-minute documentary focusing on the topic: “A message to the new president: What is the most urgent issue for the new president to address after taking office, and why?”

This year's competition generated a record number of entries; nearly 1,000 videos from students in 41 states around the country. A total of 75 winners and 11 teacher awards were announced by C-SPAN and were accompanied by $50,000 in cash awards, including a Grand Prize winner, two first prize winners; eight second prize winners; sixteen third prize winners; and 48 honorable mentions in middle and high school categories.

The videos were judged by a panel of C-SPAN representatives and evaluated based on the thoughtful examination of the contest theme, quality of expression, adherence to the time limit, the balance of views presented, and use of C-SPAN programming.

For more information about the StudentCam 2009 contest, visit www.studentcam.org/Winners09.htm.

For more information about the Civics Bus, visit www.c-span.org/schoolbus/index.asp.