Students at Cody High School have learned how to use their voice, some microphones and a couple cameras to make a difference both internationally and in their community.

“Be grateful for each second of your life … because I have friends who cannot feel anything anymore,” Denis, a Ukrainian student, said in an interview with Cody High students last year.

The interview was used in a short film “Our Ukrainian Friends.”  Denis’ quote was one of the last images of the film. The last names of the Ukrainian students were not given.

Recently the film was one of two produced by Cody students and selected to be part of a national festival. “Our Ukranian Friends” has also been used in lobbying efforts to advocate for Ukrainian aid.

Cody High students were able to create the films thanks to the Cody High School Media Production program, which began as a broadcast journalism program started in the 90s by former Cody High teacher Mike Riley, said current instructor Betsy Ryzewicz. The program is also a student reporting lab which means that the films produced by the students can be submitted to PBS for their consideration.

Last spring, Cody High School student Aiden Bee was interested in the war that had recently broken out in Ukraine. So he decided to interview Yulia Piazza, a Cody resident who grew up in Ukraine and learn her perspective on the war. Yulia and her husband Nick Piazza, a local businessman, have supported and advocated for Ukraine since the war broke out.

“Aiden started the project this spring prior, and it was supposed to be a simple story about Yulia and Ukraine and what she thought. And then it grew and it wasn’t done,” Ryzewicz said.

So fellow students Mia McMinn and Kinsley Merritt came on as producers and editors, together with Aiden they interviewed three Ukrainian students including Dan, a student who left Ukraine during the war and is continuing his high school education in Cody. 

With Yulia serving as a translator the Cody High students interviewed Ukrainian students who were still in their homeland attending school. In the end, they had accumulated over six hours of interview material to sort through.

“We had to really be selective of what we wanted people to hear. And one of the questions we asked the high school students is, what they want American children to know,” Merritt said. “And we felt that that question was one of the main priorities because they’re talking directly to us [about] what they want us to do about it, and like what they would like us to help them with.”

After the film was completed it had a showing at Big Horn Cinemas in Cody. The film also traveled with the Piazza’s in their lobbying efforts in Washington D.C., Nick said in a September “Speak your Piece” interview on KODI radio. 

But this isn’t the only film out of Cody High that’s making a difference. The team of Emma Baxter, Eliza Spencer and Taylor Ochse examined a problem close to home in their broadcast journalism piece “Cody Middle School Crosswalk.” For years Cody Middle School students had to cross Big Horn Avenue to get to and from school and, in January a student was hit by a car while trying to cross traffic. The film, directed by Baxter, examined the crosswalk problem, including whether or not a WYDOT study which had been approved had taken place. When filming took place in December of 2021, the study had not yet taken place, but since then the study has been completed and is leading to more permanent changes along the road. The film went on to be shared online at least hundreds of times and was “part of the conversation,” Ryzewicz said.

“They actually have like a little crosswalk out there now … kind of like what they have on the main street going across from here to Chinatown (Buffet),” Spencer said.

Both films were selected as entries in the All American High School Film Festival, the largest high school film festival in the world, Ryzewicz said. McMinn, Merrit and Spencer along with Ryzewicz and Yulia attended the festival Oct. 20-22 in New York City. While the films did not win, Ryzewicz said it was an honor to be nominated. The films “Our Ukrainian Friends” and another CHS film “Uncommon,” by Jarom Beardall, won regional Student Production Awards also known as the Student Emmy’s. They are now vying for national awards which will be announced virtually in November. 

The films can be viewed by searching for Cody High School’s Vimeo account CHSMPP.