By TAM NGUYEN / NGUOI VIET 2
Monique Nguyen, Cory Nguyen and Branda Bui entered the C-SPAN student video contest and earned an honorable mention. Phot by Tam Nguyen Cory Nguyen, 17, senior, was in charge of the voiceovers. Photo by Tam Nguyen Branda Bui, 17, guided the research. Photo by Tam Nguyen Monique Nguyen, 18, senior, filmed and edited the video. Photo by Tam Nguyen
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. ― School funding is one of the biggest issues facing state and federal officials today, and even students realize that. In fact, three students from Garden Grove High School tackled the topic in a video contest sponsored by C-SPAN. So impressed were the judges that their video earned an honorable mention in the contest.
Seniors Cory Nguyen and Branda Bui, both 17, and Monique Nguyen, 18, interviewed school district business officials and their school principal, Steve Osborne. Bui said they just wanted a good grade in their civics class, never dreaming they would win. To them, school funding was a natural choice for the video’s subject.
“The topic is one of the big issues, especially for our school because of its budget cuts,” Cory Nguyen said.
To honor the students’ efforts, C-SPAN is sending its education bus to Garden Grove High School on Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. The three students will receive certificates from C-SPAN officials. They and other students will have a chance to board the bus to see how the network, which broadcasts hearings from Capitol Hill and other government news, works.
According to a school district news release, the “C-SPAN bus travels the country to promote and enhance C-SPAN’s resources and political coverage by stopping at book festivals, high schools, and universities to host students and teachers around the nation, giving them an inside look at C-SPAN’s comprehensive educational and political resources.”
The three students will share a $250 prize, as well, they said. They shared the workload, too,
Monique Nguyen served as the videographer and editor. Bui did the research and Cory Nguyen provided the voiceover for the video.
“I was surprised to win and didn’t expect it to be a huge deal and just wanted a grade,” Monique Nguyen said. The students credited teacher Gregg Primeaux and Rick Nakano, the district’s director of business services, and said they could not have succeeded without them. All three students have their college plans. Both Bui and Cory Nguyen said they will attend Cal State Long Beach, with Bui studying biochemistry and her classmate majoring in electrical engineering. Aspiring teacher Monique Nguyen wants to be a teacher and plans to go Orange Coast College and transfer to UCLA.
