T Tauri joins Operation Military Kids

— The T Tauri Movie Camp, a division of Ozark Foothills FilmFest Inc. completed its first week of working with Operation Military Kids by unveiling a new documentary film, Young Heroes: Military Teens Speak Out.

The film was created by a group of seven students, ages 12-16, in a four-day workshop held at the C.V. Vines 4-H Center in Ferndale.

Six of the participants had family members in the military; the seventh student's parents are food service contractors employed by the military. The film gives the students the opportunity to voice their concerns, ambitions and their feelings about family members in the military.

Operation Military Kids is a national initiative to support, assist and encourage youth with one or both parents in the military.

The organization has a special focus on youth whose parents are currently deployed. Arkansas joined the project this year under the leadership of the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension and 4-H. Operation Military Kids offers a year-round slate of activities and events around the state.

Ozark Foothills FilmFest Inc. is one of the project's founding partners.

T Tauri faculty members Michael Merritt, Juli Jackson, Jim Anderson and Kelby Jones joined Ozark Foothills President Bob Pest at Ferndale to work with the students. The instructors used the curriculum developed for organization's Community Documentar y workshops, offered regularly as part of the annual T Tauri Movie Camp.

Ozark Foothills intends to continue its involvement in the project.

Three Rivers, Pages 52 on 08/27/2009

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