What's the Story? - The Young Filmmakers' Social Action Team

What's the Story? - The Young Filmmakers' Social Action Team A course for middle and high school students, sponsored by Middlebury Bread Loaf School of English.

Find more information at www.whatsthestoryvt.com

Rooted in the spirit of John Dewey and the tradition of Vermont’s active, local politics, this course will convene a cohort of 15–20 secondary students from across the state to learn, work, and act together in ways that improve their worlds. This hybrid course—a blend of online and in-person learning—will engage learners in a collaborative process

of identifying and researching local topics of interest, drafting and publishing position papers, as well as designing, creating, and using media to effect positive change. Students will work with visiting experts from the fields of policy making, writing for change, social action, education, cognitive science, environmental science, etc. Additionally, students will be assigned an on-site mentor, who will work with learners at their school to provide timely and ongoing support. This is a course of, and in, the world, so students will be meeting and learning with local businesses, elected officials, and community members. Earn graduation credit under Vermont’s Act 77, which promotes “flexible pathways to graduation.” Ask your guidance counselor how this might work for you in your high school. "What’s the Story?" is one way your high school can offer flexible pathways that “promote opportunities for Vermont students to achieve postsecondary readiness through high-quality educational experiences that acknowledge individual goals, learning styles, and abilities.” (Act 77)

We are thrilled to share the 2025-26 virtual premiere of films created by students in What’s the Story? The Young Filmma...
06/19/2026

We are thrilled to share the 2025-26 virtual premiere of films created by students in What’s the Story? The Young Filmmakers’ Social Action Team.

These films will begin premiering for the very first time on Saturday, June 20 at 4:00 PM ET and will continue through approximately 11:30 PM ET. That is 7.5 hours of student-created documentary film — and these are just some of the films created by WTS students this year. After each film’s original premiere, it will remain accessible indefinitely at the same YouTube URL.

This year’s filmmakers come from school and community sites across the United States, Canada, and Colombia, including Berkeley, California; Roseburg, Oregon; Santa Fe, New Mexico; New York City; Lac La Croix First Nation in Northwestern Ontario; Sharon, Vermont; Nicholasville, Kentucky; Manizales, Colombia; Aiken, South Carolina; and Gastonia, North Carolina.

Together, these young filmmakers investigated issues that matter deeply to them, their communities, and the wider world. Their films explore artificial intelligence, political identity, wildfires, gender equity, civic engagement, gentrification, housing insecurity, bodily autonomy, homelessness, Native American mascots, student stress, racism and poverty, human trafficking, social media and mental health, peer pressure, caregiving, informal labor, intolerance, childhood, teen relationship violence, school support staff, and the power of sports to unite communities.

Each film reflects the voice, perspective, and care of young people working to better understand the world they are inheriting and helping to shape.

https://open.substack.com/pub/wtsfilmmakers/p/2025-26-whats-the-story-virtual-film?r=2tz29r&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

What a beautiful day at the 🌤️ Bread Loaf campus for the Winter Institute on Expanding the Classroom!An intrepid group o...
02/28/2026

What a beautiful day at the 🌤️ Bread Loaf campus for the Winter Institute on Expanding the Classroom!

An intrepid group of educators dove in for 90 minutes on The Art of the Interview, drawing on learning modules from the What’s the Story? 🎥✨

We explored the technical craft — key lighting 💡, the rule of thirds 🎞️, framing, and camera setup — and then moved into the deeper interpersonal complexities of interviewing: presence, listening, vulnerability, and trust 🤝.

We tried it all out together, hopeful that this form of digital literacy and composition will resonate back in their classrooms in meaningful ways.

What an amazing group — so much joy in the learning and the doing. Grateful. 🍂📚

02/15/2026

By Hailey Elles, WTS Site Leader at The Sharon Academy (VT)

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Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
05753

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