In May of 2001, we held our first Film Festival. That year, we did something that was really new: We made movies that were completely produced on the computer. At that time we did not realize that this simple idea, to have students and teachers use more technology in class, would lead Mabry Middle School to set the standard for technology innovation in public schools for the entire United States.

The power of ideas! The idea was simple. The idea was transformational.

The power of this little idea led us to receive the prestigious Schools of Distinction Award for Technology Innovation from Scholastic and Intel Corporation. Because of this national recognition, Mabry has had over 200 visitors come to our school from all over the nation to learn about what we do. Magazine articles have been written in professional journals about us. And our school even received over a quarter of a million dollars in grants and technology donations.

Mabry actually competed against over 3,600 schools around the nation that applied for the award. We were even competing in the high school division. Because of this innovative use of technology for learning, the film festival, we won!

Tonight we have the privilege and the pleasure to welcome you to the 5th Annual Mabry Middle School Film Festival. Tonight we celebrate our theme: “The Power of Ideas–-Stories From Our Studies.”

Our first category for the evening is Best Teaching and Learning. The objective for these movies was to create a movie that would be the best representation of curricular significance.

The nominees in this category are:

* The Dark Side of Chocolate

* Generation of Conscience

* History Remembers

* Inventions--Ideas of How We Work and Play

* You Must Be the Change

This video podcast contains all of the student movies in this category just as they were presented on April 25, 2006, the night of our 5th Annual Mabry Film Festival.