Is Anybody Listening? A testament by Village Academy High School students on the economic crisis

A Dream Comes True! Students meet President Obama on March 19, 2009! In addition, see President Obama's reference to Village Academy in his first speech to the nation about education. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/...
Follow up with KCET.org/socal beautiful tribute to this project!

This project sprang from discussions held in our Advanced Placement Literature and Composition class during the reading of F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel The Great Gatsby, says Mr. Steinman, AP Lit. teacher at Village Academy High School (Pomona Unified School District). They opened up, shared deeply touching details of their current travails, and felt compelled to share their sentiments with those who were in a position to not only listen to them, but implement policies in order to make things better for them and the country they love dearly. The sentiments expressed in this project are true, heartfelt and totally unscripted. Students sat themselves down, the camera began to roll, and the resulting footage is as true as it gets. Spoken with innocence, directly, and with the courage rarely seen by teenagers today, the video was totally edited by students and is meant as a means of expression by which positive action will hopefully be inspired to evolve.

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[vmacommunications]

Thank you ALL for your kind words and wonderful generosity!

A fund is currently being established for accepting donations for the Village Academy High School Students!

Please be patient, we hope to have this completed for them this week. We will notify you as soon as it is established.

The kids are SO appreciative of the support and well wishes, we just can't relate it all here! Suffice it to say... a HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL!

[Oliver Tam]

My name is Oliver, from Hong Kong, China. I watched the ABC boardcast on HKTVB-Pearl Channel tonite and learned that you share this on youtube.

In HK, there are also many people like you losing their jobs, homes and struggling on the edge. However, we may have no home, but we still have families. We may have no jobs, but we still have the courage to live, the skills to survive. We may have not enough food, but we stills have our strong wills to make the world change. Make you days!

[Ellen Oravec]

"every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction"---Sir Issac Newton. Even though we are in an economic recession right now, things will get better and we will bounce back. Look at the Historical events of the Great Depression, or Causes of the Glorious Revolution in France. The only problem preventing things from getting better is the fact that people never learn and allow history to repeat itself.

[firstgovs]

yea same thank god i live in new zealand but its sad to see things like this happen i hope this ends soon

[patrick morales]

I am Jose Lopez's brother and i think u guyz r right my name is pablo

[Lisa Dabbs]

WOW! So moving...right in my backyard as I live in LA County. We need to keep the voice of Village Academy alive! I hope our President keeps listening...I hope he gets congress and the senate to listen...Prayers to you VAH...

[T3L3PROOF]

Whoopi Goldberg visited Village academy today, I was so excited Village Academy Rules!! Class of 2012 :(

[hikesnap]

very sad i live in nz we havent realy felt the crunch yet but i hope things clear up fou you guys

[SteveNetwriter]

Very moving :(

I'm sure this will touch many people.

[Ariannah4Drake]

You guys are so brave for saying this and putting it up on the internet. Now everyone else in a simillar situation to you wont feel alone or abondoned by the government. Congratulations. You should feel really proud of yourselves.

[Monty Hora]

just aired in New Zealand via 20/20.. this video made me cry.. i hope it gets better..good luck