HOT SPRINGS -- Videos made by students from Hot Springs World Class High School will help recognize true-life heroes when the Greater Arkansas Chapter of the American Red Cross hosts its annual Celebration of Heroes luncheon today in Little Rock.
John Stokes said the executive director of the Red Cross chapter approached him about having students in his environmental and spatial technology program create a short videos recognizing this year's heroes.
"We have done work with them before whenever I was the facilitator at the middle school," Stokes said. "They really enjoy what the kids' efforts were, and they sought out some of our kids in the ... program."
The students, junior Kerry Ferrell II and sophomore Isabel Ritter, are currently finishing up the seven videos they have been asked to make for the Red Cross -- a project that has taken a considerable amount of effort.
"It took a lot of organizing because these people are from all over, so we had to organize interviews with all of them individually," Ritter said.
Ferrell said it took working around multiple people's schedules, as well as their own.
"We had to basically work around everyone's schedule and also try to fit in our other projects, and school," he said. "But it worked out in the end. ... This is the process we usually go through -- the organizing, getting interviews prepared, and then we record them and edit."
According to the students, the videos honor heroes across Arkansas who either saved a life or gave back to their community in a big way in 2017.
"They're all really different stories, and having the people telling their stories made it all more real to us," Ritter said.
Throughout the editing process, Ferrell said he finds out a new piece of each person's story that he had not heard before.
"I think the story that stuck out to me the most was Cpl. [Todd] Spradlin, who saved a 3-week-old baby who was having an allergic reaction," he said. "He performed CPR for 12 minutes, I believe he said, until backup came. He said he keeps in touch with the mother."
Ferrell and Ritter will be in attendance to see their videos at the luncheon. Since 2004, the annual luncheon has served as an opportunity to celebrate not only the work of the Red Cross in Arkansas, but also that of courageous heroes who help their community by saving a life. These individuals represent everyone from professional emergency personnel to everyday citizens.
Metro on 03/08/2018