USC Shoah Foundation records the testimonies of genocide survivors so the world will never forget their stories. Eighth-grade student Andrea Chang decided to do something similar for her community: document the stories of the elderly.

As part of the third-annual IWitness Video Challenge, Andrea created a video demonstrating her project, in which she spoke to the elderly and shared their stories. Her video, “Tell Me Your Story,” took third place in the national competition, landing her a $500 scholarship.

“In this country, we celebrate youth and beauty, not the wisdom of old age,” Andrea said of her inspiration. “Yet, the elderly have so much to teach us.”

Andrea realized from watching the Visual History Archive testimonies of Dennis Urstein and Malka Baran that it is important to learn from the past. But, in addition to posting the stories she was told on a website for everyone to see, she also gave back to the people telling the stories, creating books based on what they had told her to give them as a gift.

“The most rewarding part of this project were the reactions of my elderly interviewees when they received the gift of their story,” she said. “I did not know that such a simple thing could mean so much to people.”

Andrea was especially impressed with Ya Huey, a 70-year-old woman who wrote out her entire tale in both Chinese and English. Huey appears in the video telling her story alongside pictures of her life.

“It was because Ya Huey was so meticulous and cared so much that her story turned out to be my favorite,” Andrea said. “And the best thing was, I was able to bring her dream of being an author to life.”

The project wasn’t easy, however. One obstacle Andrea had to overcome was her shyness. Luckily, she had an instructor equipped to help her. The teacher who had assigned the project was Clarissa Ngo, who Andrea works with at Magic Pen Tutoring, an after-school enrichment program that helps students develop their writing and their passions. Ngo worked with Andrea on exercises that would help her speak more loudly and allow her to appear in her own video.

“Some contests reward you for being smart, but the IWitness contest challenges you to be kind."

“Andrea was game to try anything to learn to project her voice--from conversing with me from four floors down to walking around the room while waving her arms and declaring what she believed,” Ngo said. “And when she found out she was a finalist, Andrea was speechless with disbelief.”

Andrea said she finds the very concept of the IWitness Video Challenge inspiring.

“There are some contests out there reward you for being smart, but the IWitness contest also challenges you to be kind,” she said. “I think kindness and empathy are the most important qualities we can cultivate.”

Though the challenge is now over, Andrea said she plans to continue her project for the next couple years.

“One day we’ll all be elderly,” she said. “So it’s important to respect the people we will become!”