The Northwest Film Center Young Filmmakers Program's national-model Service Learning Center, a collaboration with Portland Public Schools, Lincoln High School, Portland State University, and service organizations throughout the metro area, stood out as a dynamic example of how the media arts can help jumpstart and facilitate the involvement of young people in volunteerism and community service. With support from the Starbucks Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Arts Commission, Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust, and Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission, teens from Lincoln High School worked with School of Film faculty for an entire semester to create documentaries about three stalwart local outreach programs which they believe deserve a larger presence in the public eye. Here are examples of Service Learning Center projects:

A TASTE OF INDEPENDENCE, by Daniel Ben-Israel, Adelle Pomeroy, Ryan Lewis, and Justin Combs, examines the history and services of Meals On Wheels.

PLAYING TAG, by Fernan Rojas-Echonique, Nicole Freshley, and Simon Yugler, follows students at the PPS Access School for Talented & Gifted students.

DRY HUMPING SAVES LIVES, by Tessa Whitlock, Aurora Selland-Taylor, and Gali Slayen, profiles the Cascade AIDS Project's Teen-2-Teen Program.

With many of the young filmmakers in attendance, we celebrate their achievements as videographers, interviewers, and editors, and acknowledge the important contribution their work is making in helping to improve the lives of others.