My buddies Lucas Brogan, Josh Goglio, Jonah Hacker, Lars Roeder and I had been messing around with our families' video cameras for quite a while when my mom suggested the idea that we start to "go pro." Another neighbor, Tim Olsen, had been talking with her about how we could get involved in making our community a safer place to live. When we found out about grants being offered by the Safe Community Coalition of Madison and Dane County, we applied. Ms. Sheryl Wittke, who coordinates the program, helped my mom help us fill out the grant proposal and we waited.
When we
found out in a few days that we had actually won a $250 grant with an
additional $100 from the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association, we were
surprised and happy and a little bit scared. And when the reporters from Channel 15 news showed up at the
Awards Breakfast where Lucas and I were representing our group, "Five Buds
with a Videocam," we got really nervous.
But when we
saw ourselves on TV that night, it
was pretty cool. Our project will be to raise awareness of the dangers of red
light running by making a group video, which will be used as a public service
announcement. We will have help
from Officer Stacy Vilas, who has lots of ideas as to the production of these
kinds of movies. Channel 15 has
already promised to show the finished product and we hope that it will be a
great success. While we're
not exactly Hollywood grade yet, we would like to put Steven Spielburg
on alert. and we hope someday to hear the words "and the award in
the category of Most Exciting Safety Awareness video goes to FIVE BUDS WITH A VIDEOCAM!"
-
Alexander Zielske