In the heart of the school on Magnolia Street, five characters from around the world came together to tell their stories for the very first time.

On Monday night, five Fowler High School students screened a film created in conjunction with S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications faculty members and students, in front of an audience of family, friends and teachers.

The film, “Fowler Voices,” is a short documentary based around the lives of the five Fowler students who helped make it.

“The true story of Fowler lies in the students,” said Fowler advisor Susan Centore, who helped coordinate the making of the film. “What makes the school so special is not the building, but the students inside it.”

The senior Fowler students hail from locations across the world. Thing Sai and Jacob Ngawi are from Burma; Husam Jameel traveled from Iraq; Mupenzi Kabera is from the Republic of Congo and Priscilla Thunderberk is a native of Syracuse.

“[Fowler is] very diverse,” Jameel said. “You learn a lot of different cultures. You have a very wide picture of the world that you live in from all the students that attended.”

After the students were accepted into the program, they attended weekly Friday meetings throughout the spring semester. There, Richard Breyer, the Newhouse professor who led the project, taught them basic storytelling skills.

Shortly after their meetings, the Fowler students shot most of the film’s material, including interviews. Breyer and three Newhouse students proceeded to edit the material.

“The kids kind of became hands on with us, everyone was really welcoming,” said Genta Trebicka, one of the Newhouse students involved with the project.

Although Newhouse staff members helped the Fowler students, they primarily served as mentors, letting the students do most of the work themselves. Breyer said the production depends a lot on the students they work with and the direction they want to go in.

Ashley Kang, a Newhouse ’11 graduate student who helped produce the film, said that the student’s own personal stories were captivating and made for a strong focus in the film.

“Just hearing their stories, just hearing what their lives were like…it was kind of eye opening for each of them,” Kang said.

After about four months in the making, the hard work of the five students came to fruition in the Fowler wood paneled auditorium, amongst the rows of black chairs and event-appropriate red carpeting.

The film was a celebration of what lies at the heart of Fowler’s unique composition and of the student’s successes –– it captured powerful moments from their lives on film.

Ngawi, for instance, could not speak English several years ago, but he learned with the help of his teachers. Now, he tutors other students. In the film, his progress is an essential plot point.

Thunderberk and Jameel are featured in the film preparing for Fowler’s annual musical production, “Little Shop of Horrors.” For Jameel, he was far away as possible from the religious persecution that forced his family to leave Baghdad when growing up.

“It’s kind of tough just to get an idea of what your video will be like and what you want to say in the video,” said Jameel. “But when I pulled through it, it just worked out fine. It’s not like you’re on your own.”

But perhaps the most powerful moment came from Kabera’s story. A first team all-league soccer player this year, Kabera was in a camp in Rwanda not too long ago, starving. His family and father had been separated into different camps, and found different paths as refugees.

With his friends on hand to film, Kabera had an emotional reunion with his father at Syracuse Hancock International Airport for the first time in five years.

After the film’s conclusion, the students lined up, received applause and answered questions from the audience. They then received certificates and copies of the film on DVD.

Breyer said this is the second year Newhouse and Fowler have teamed up to create a short film. The partnership is a year-to-year decision, but it might end sooner rather than later – at least at Fowler. In April, the Syracuse School Board unanimously decided to phase out the historically low-performing school by June 2017 and replace it with the Public Service Leadership Academy.

Despite these uncertainties, Thunderberk said it’s business as usual.

“Everything that’s going on is still going on, everyone’s still trying to instill that family bond,” she said.

With “Fowler Voices,” the five students went to great lengths to disprove that notion. They provided an inside look at a school that many dismissed many years ago.

“I knew everyone from a distance [beforehand],” Thunderberk said. “Now, I get to hear their stories. I get to open up to new perspectives.”

Published on June 10, 2014 at 4:35 pm