As part of a project conducted through the Humanities program, several Centennial High School students earned national recognition in this year’s C-SPAN StudentCam documentary competition, using research, interviews, and filmmaking to explore important issues facing the nation while developing valuable real-world skills.

The 2026 competition challenged students to connect the ideals of the Declaration of Independence to a contemporary issue as the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary. Through months of research, planning, filming, interviewing, and editing, Centennial students produced award-winning documentaries.

Sophomore Rachel Weintraub and her partner and cousin, Kathryn Fishman, earned an Honorable Mention for their documentary on D.C. statehood. Reflecting on the experience, Weintraub said one of the most rewarding aspects of the project was learning about an issue she had previously known little about.

“Going into the research project I did not know much about the fight for D.C. statehood,” Weintraub said. “I really enjoyed learning about the injustice.”

Weintraub also emphasized the broader value of the competition. “I think CSPAN is important because it gets us involved in real-world issues and helps us understand the different perspectives that people have,” she said.

Another Centennial team composed of Sophomores Alara Kocoglu, Satvik Jain, and Angela Yang earned Third Prize in the Eastern Division for their documentary “Removed,” which examined the issue of book banning. Jain described hearing the results as “euphoric.”

“We had put so much time, effort, and pure heart into this project, so it was so amazing to see the results of that and all the support our documentary received,” he said.

Jain explained that the topic emerged naturally from the interests of his team members.

“All of us being avid readers, book banning was the first topic that came to mind,” Jain said. “The first highlight would definitely have to be the whole process of working with my groupmates. I had such a fun time doing research, conducting interviews, and editing the documentary with them, and this experience has made us closer friends as a result.”

For Jain’s team, one of the greatest challenges was condensing extensive research and interviews into the competition’s six-minute time limit.

“We had to be very thoughtful in determining what made it into the final cut, making sure all the voices were represented and ensuring that the viewer would still be able to understand our issue,” Jain said. “It took a lot of work, but we ended up with a documentary that was truly special.”

Yang, another member of the “Removed” team, said the project strengthened both her interviewing and editing abilities.

“We were able to get in a lot of good interviews, so I think I was able to take away some really good interview skills from this project,” Yang said. “This project also took a lot of video editing so I think I got better at video editing through this project.”

Yang added that if given more time, the team would have continued refining the documentary. “I think overall our video is pretty polished, but if we had more time, I would just do some more video editing to make things more clean,” she said. “With more time we could film more B-roll so there’s less stock video.”

The competition also provided students with opportunities to develop professional skills outside the classroom. Weintraub said one of the most valuable lessons she learned was “how to schedule and conduct interviews in a professional way and so that I get the best information possible from the people I am interviewing.”

The students also offered advice to future competitors. Weintraub encouraged participants to “start early and don’t wait until the last minute for assembling the video and editing.” 

Yang stressed the importance of obtaining interviews as soon as possible, explaining that “the more you get, the more views and opinions you will get on the topic.”

Jain echoed that sentiment, encouraging future participants to take initiative. “Don’t be afraid to send messages to people for interviews,” he said. “You never know who will reply. Don’t be afraid to hear no, because you never know where you might find that voice that fits just right into your documentary.”

The participants said the most lasting impact of the whole C-SPAN process came from the skills and experiences they gained throughout the process. “

Through this project, we were able to go out into the real world and learn about a topic of importance to us, and make a change with our words,” Jain said. “The future of democracy relies on the willingness of the people to ask questions, get involved, and speak up.”