Student interns sought for PEACE Park documentary

Documentarian Kara White interviews Gary and Julie Galustic, founders of the Coventry PEACE Park.

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Coventry PEACE Park is getting a face-lift. More to the point, it’s being completely rebuilt, with new structures (a cardinal!), free Wi-Fi, new play areas that will include a climbing wall and a zipline, and more. To document the changes, Heights Libraries enlisted Height Middle School Shorts (HMSS)—and HMSS is looking for student interns.

Since its creation in the early '90s, the playground has been a gathering place for the entire community: it’s hosted theater productions, outdoor cinema, and lots of hanging out. 

“It’s hard to overstate the value of the PEACE Park to the Heights community,” said Heights Libraries Director Nancy Levin. ”We’re not just rebuilding the playground; we’re creating the heart of the community for generations to come.”

To memorialize this moment, Heights Libraries has partnered with HMSS and Kara White, Emmy Award-winning documentarian and producer, to make a documentary that chronicles the park’s rebuilding. 

“HMSS was the obvious choice,” said Levin. “What’s more, their model is to involve Heights middle-school and high-school students at every step of the process. That’s a requirement for us.”

To complete the production, HMSS is looking for middle-school and high-school students to work with the director (White), editor (Antonio Harper), and composer (Tyler Maxey) to ensure a quality production built on Heights’ ingenuity. Harper and Maxey are both Heights High grads who are forging their ways in the film world.

White needs three interns to be production assistants on the film set and help film interviews and B-roll for the project. These interns will learn lighting, camera, and how to interview for a documentary. 

Harper is looking for two editing and research interns to help him transcribe dialogue, review footage, construct the narrative, edit interviews and sequences, add visual and audio elements, and help polish the final cut. 

Maxey is looking for students to help him create and shape the film’s musical score.

To apply as an intern, students should send an inquiry along with a résumé/cover letter to jobs@heightsmiddleschoolshorts.org. The application deadline is Sept. 13.

Sixth- to eighth-graders who work on the film will receive community hours and a small stipend, and 11th- and 12th-graders in the CTE marketing, digital media/editing and audio engineering programs will receive up to $100 and credit hours towards their CTE certificate.