By Kimberly Wolford, Student Reporter

Students presented a variety of media productions Thursday night in the Morris Center as part of a free screening event.

Sarah Gibson, adjunct instructor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, said all the productions came from two classes in the JMC department, JMC 360: Television Field Productions and JMC 260: Television Studio Production.

Eight documentaries ranging between five and 10 minutes were shown during the film screening, as well as commercials that advertised the JMC Network; the event also included animation projects and silent films.

The documentaries were a project for the Field Production class. The project’s prompt was to create a documentary following someone that was in some way connected with ACU, Gibson said.

Pete Koehn, senior electronic media major from Olathe, Kan., began organizing his documentary in early March before spring break and finished editing Monday. His documentary, titled Walking Poems, focuses on Dr. Steven Moore, associate professor of English, and the different experiences he has encountered throughout his life.

“I’ve talked to him a little bit about his past when he was growing up,” Koehn said. “I think the story is relevant given today’s social and racial melting pot.”

Although Koehn will not pursue a career in documentary filmmaking, he said the experience was beneficial and will assist him with his future career.

Other documentary subjects ranged from one student’s experience with racism, Dr. Kerri Hart’s battle with knee replacement surgery, Gamma Sigma Phi’s Sing Song act and former ACU student Zach Snyder’s mission work.

“They work on these documentaries all semester,” Gibson said. “We try to have a way for the public to see all of their hard work.”

Gibson said she has heard talk about putting these documentaries on the ACU Channel on YouTube, but nothing has been finalized.

This is the second time the screening was at ACU, and Gibson said she hopes it will not be the last.

“We are trying to teach this class in Summer II,” Gibson said. “And if we have enough students, there will be a screening at the end of that session, too.”