thedrifter
07-30-07, 09:57 AM
Teen filmmaker giving prize money to wounded soldier
By Karen Jowers - kjowers@militarytimes.com
Posted : August 06, 2007
The conversation 13-year-old Ian Scott Wilson had with a wounded soldier lasted just a few seconds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. — but it made a lasting impression.
Ian, 13, is giving the $1,000 first-place prize he won in C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest to that soldier, he told S. Ward Casscells, the Pentagon’s top health affairs official, in a meeting July 24.
Ian’s video is titled “When the Boys Come Home: The Controversy at Walter Reed.”
Casscells invited Ian and his family into his office to thank him for his work and asked the budding filmmaker why he decided to make the film.
When the controversy over outpatient treatment for combat troops at Walter Reed broke earlier this year, Ian said, he became concerned about what could happen to his older brother, Sgt. Gordon Hamm, if he was injured in Iraq.
“My older brother is in the 82nd Airborne,” Ian said. “If he got hurt, that would be horrible. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have to go through the things they had to go through” that he had heard about at Walter Reed.
It was around that time that he and his father heard about C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest. Without setting foot onto the campus of Walter Reed, Ian put together a film about the issue — and won $1,000 for his efforts.
It was only after he won the contest that he went to Walter Reed and exchanged brief greetings with a wounded soldier who had lost a leg. Ian received his check in mid-June and recently received approval from Walter Reed officials to give the money to the soldier, said Ian’s father, David Wilson. They are now in the process of contacting the soldier to make sure he’ll accept the money.
“You’ve been a great example for all teenagers. I hope you keep it up,” Casscells said in the meeting with Ian; his mother, Julie; sister Katherine, 10; and brother Sean, 8. Casscells, who hadn’t yet seen the film, said he has been told Ian’s work is “even-handed” in dealing with the issues.
He invited Ian to come to Walter Reed to see how things have improved.
Ian didn’t interview any wounded troops for his film, he said, because he wasn’t allowed into Walter Reed. He relied on information provided by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., as well as information from other sources, including a number of clips from C-SPAN. Ian also interviewed people on the streets of Washington about their thoughts.
He worked on the project for about a month-and-a-half, he said, culling more than 30 hours of interviews down to less than 10 minutes for the video. He’s considering a career in the field, perhaps even in uniform as a reporter or cameraman for the Navy, he said.
Ian was in the eighth grade at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., when he produced the film this spring. He will enter high school in Egypt — the family is moving there July 30 when his mother, who works for the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, is reassigned there.
The young filmmaker asked Casscells whether he could pitch him a question on camera. Surrounded by reporters and photographers, Ian pulled out his video camera and asked Casscells about how young people can get involved in political elections — for his next documentary.
Ellie
By Karen Jowers - kjowers@militarytimes.com
Posted : August 06, 2007
The conversation 13-year-old Ian Scott Wilson had with a wounded soldier lasted just a few seconds at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. — but it made a lasting impression.
Ian, 13, is giving the $1,000 first-place prize he won in C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest to that soldier, he told S. Ward Casscells, the Pentagon’s top health affairs official, in a meeting July 24.
Ian’s video is titled “When the Boys Come Home: The Controversy at Walter Reed.”
Casscells invited Ian and his family into his office to thank him for his work and asked the budding filmmaker why he decided to make the film.
When the controversy over outpatient treatment for combat troops at Walter Reed broke earlier this year, Ian said, he became concerned about what could happen to his older brother, Sgt. Gordon Hamm, if he was injured in Iraq.
“My older brother is in the 82nd Airborne,” Ian said. “If he got hurt, that would be horrible. I just wanted to make sure he didn’t have to go through the things they had to go through” that he had heard about at Walter Reed.
It was around that time that he and his father heard about C-SPAN Classroom’s StudentCam video documentary contest. Without setting foot onto the campus of Walter Reed, Ian put together a film about the issue — and won $1,000 for his efforts.
It was only after he won the contest that he went to Walter Reed and exchanged brief greetings with a wounded soldier who had lost a leg. Ian received his check in mid-June and recently received approval from Walter Reed officials to give the money to the soldier, said Ian’s father, David Wilson. They are now in the process of contacting the soldier to make sure he’ll accept the money.
“You’ve been a great example for all teenagers. I hope you keep it up,” Casscells said in the meeting with Ian; his mother, Julie; sister Katherine, 10; and brother Sean, 8. Casscells, who hadn’t yet seen the film, said he has been told Ian’s work is “even-handed” in dealing with the issues.
He invited Ian to come to Walter Reed to see how things have improved.
Ian didn’t interview any wounded troops for his film, he said, because he wasn’t allowed into Walter Reed. He relied on information provided by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., as well as information from other sources, including a number of clips from C-SPAN. Ian also interviewed people on the streets of Washington about their thoughts.
He worked on the project for about a month-and-a-half, he said, culling more than 30 hours of interviews down to less than 10 minutes for the video. He’s considering a career in the field, perhaps even in uniform as a reporter or cameraman for the Navy, he said.
Ian was in the eighth grade at Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., when he produced the film this spring. He will enter high school in Egypt — the family is moving there July 30 when his mother, who works for the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Agency for International Development, is reassigned there.
The young filmmaker asked Casscells whether he could pitch him a question on camera. Surrounded by reporters and photographers, Ian pulled out his video camera and asked Casscells about how young people can get involved in political elections — for his next documentary.
Ellie