After seeing his students’ remarkable achievements both inside and outside the classroom, Matt Silvia thought they could make a real difference by entering the IWitness Video Challenge. And he was right.

Silvia’s students at Chicago’s Walter Payton College Preparatory Alana Chandler, Yu Jing Chen and Natalia Wang are the grand prize winners of the 2017 IWitness Video Challenge for their video “Who Are You? Embracing Identity in Our Community.”

The 11th graders were inspired by a clip from the testimony of Armenian Genocide survivor Haig Baronian about the pain of hiding his identity to encourage their classmates to draw their own “identity maps” and share them in a hallway display at school.

Silvia teaches AP physics and 10th and 11th grade research. He’s had Alana in his research class for two years and observed that she had a strong sense of social justice and a personal drive to affect change. He was impressed with a 20-page research paper she wrote about Armenian Genocide denial and her 15-minute oral defense of the paper.

“Alana’s work was incredibly perceptive and showed a real synthesis of historical and contemporary analysis,” Silvia said. “Her final message was for us, her audience, to be mindful of the injustices that are happening right now in the world, and how it is our responsibility to question the accepted narrative and push for justice.”

Together, Alana, Yu Jing and Natalia formed the Helping Paws club, whose mission is to make a positive impact on the community at school and the city of Chicago. As their club sponsor, Silvia thought the three would be a perfect fit for the IWitness Video Challenge.

Silvia said that although he always has high expectations, the group far exceeded them with their dedication to their IWitness project. They grew as leaders and were reflective throughout the process, incorporating feedback from him and their audience to improve the project and make it easier for students to participate and represent their identities.

“I thought the content and message of the video were reflective of the important work they do each day at Payton, and I was blown away by the production value,” he said. “The final product was the perfect balance of content and presentation polish, effectively engaging the audience to ensure that their important message is heard.”

This was Silvia’s first time assigning the IWitness Video Challenge, and he said he won’t be his last.

“This is the type of project that exemplifies the best of education,” Silvia said. “It allows students the choice and freedom to pursue a topic that they value and produce an authentic and meaningful product.”