Opening Doors
by SEPP JANNOTTA - Ravalli Republic
The MAPS Media Institute and Trapper Creek Job Corps have teamed up to expand the offerings for the Job Corps members.
Trapper Creek Job Corps student Josh Brasel learns to use a special script-writing word processor during class at the MAPS Media Institute Thursday evening. The Job Corps has teamed up with MMI as another technical resource for its students. WILL MOSS - Ravalli Republic
The collaboration also expands the number of students passing through MAPS' new program and facilities at Westview School in Hamilton.
"It's a good thing," said Peter Rosten, founder and principal film instructor for MAPS. "We're really glad to have them working with us."
Rosten said Rick O'Brien, Bitterroot Chamber of Commerce president and a board member with Trapper Creek, suggested linking the two programs.
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"Rick invited me to a meeting specifically to see if there was a marriage to be made," Rosten said. "And we talked about it and I said ‘Heck yeah,'"
Linda Gusic, director of Trapper Creek Job Corps, said getting some students enrolled in MAPS fit with a goal of trying to find worthwhile learning activities to extend the corps members' days.
"We felt like it was a way to give our students one more valuable experience," Gusic said.
Clarence Ferguson, recreational manager at Trapper Creek, agreed.
"That (MAPS) is an excellent opportunity for some of the students who have the interest in that to participate," he said. "It's an added bonus to the regular routine of the schedule and a chance to mingle with the general population."
Once a week, nine members of the Trapper Creek Job Corps pack up and head down to Hamilton.
They take up station at a computer or symposium classroom at MAPS' new facilities, which were outfitted thanks in part to a $575,000 grant from the 21st Century Community Learning Center, a push aimed at providing non-school-hours educational outlets for high school-aged kids.
Molly Crawford, an on-call staffer at Trapper Creek who has been taking the members down valley for class, said the impact of MAPS has been undeniably positive.
"I have a couple of students, all they do is talk about it," Crawford said. "They have me read their scripts and storylines. They're very excited about it."
Crawford said she has been fortunate enough to absorb the MAPS instruction alongside them.
"I'm learning a ton and it's a blast," she said.
Whether it's a high school student, a continuing ed adult, or a member of Trapper Creek Job Corps, Rosten said the philosophy at MAPS is to get each student involved in all aspects of filmmaking.
"Each of them will have had the experience of creating a story, writing a script, producing, directing and acting, same as always," Rosten said. "We want them to have as much broad-based experience as possible. If our goal is to help people to become employable, we figure it's beneficial to get their hands dirty in every possible way."
And that's just fine with Heather Haddroff, a 21-year-old Trapper Creek member from Thompson Falls.
"I like it a lot," Haddroff said. "We get to act, we each get to be the director and the sound person and the camera person. I think it's pretty cool that we all get to do that and see which one we have a stronger knack for."
The end goal is making a film, of course, and right now Haddroff said there are two scripts undergoing treatment: A film called "Super Gal" about a slightly geeky, bumbling teacher who discovers she has super hero abilities; and the "Director," the story of a psychiatrist working with institutionalized patients who is subjected to an evil plot by another doctor and a conniving patient.
As always, Rosten has added the carrot of financial incentive into the mix, with the winning script earning its originator $100.
"At every turn we're going to try to compensate them based on performance," Rosten said.
The community will have a chance to see what a MAPS class can turn out, when the after-school section debuts its film at the Pharaohplex in Hamilton on March 27.
