Correia Middle School students are earning national recognition for the power of student voice, critical thinking, and civic learning. A group of talented eighth graders recently earned top honors in C-SPAN’s 22nd annual StudentCam competition, a national documentary contest that challenges students to examine issues affecting their communities and the nation.
KPBS Feature of Students
Leading the way were Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye, who won first prize in the middle school division for their documentary, This Is What Democracy Looks Like. The film explores the influence of the Declaration of Independence on the No Kings Movement and will air on C-SPAN on Friday, April 17. The students, both in eighth grade at Correia Middle School, created the project with teacher adviser Stacey Tinsley.
Correia students also earned third prize honors in the middle school division. Celeste Stout, also an eighth grader, was recognized for The Limits of Difference: From the Declaration of Independence to United States v. Virginia, with Stacey Tinsley serving as teacher adviser. Josie Connor and Mia Martin, both eighth graders, were honored for The Writer’s Declaration: 148 Days To Save Hollywood, a documentary about the 2023 WGA strike, with Keri Clark as teacher adviser.
Recognition During Board of Education Meeting
The award-winning documentaries grew out of classroom work in English and history, where students spent about five weeks developing their projects before choosing whether to submit them to the national competition. The recognition reflects not only the students’ creativity and research skills, but also the strong learning experiences happening in Correia classrooms every day.
This year’s success also builds on an already strong tradition of student excellence. Harper Haden and Helena de la Houssaye previously earned second prize honors in last year’s competition, and this year, three other documentaries from the same class also won prizes, including an honorable mention for Myla Hannah and Elsa Elkovitch for their documentary on gun violence.
Reade more in this article from KPBS: https://www.kpbs.org/news/education/2026/04/03/san-diego-middle-school-students-win-national-documentary-competition