Atholton Adventist Academy Students Win Sonscreen Film Award

Seniors Alec O’Ffill, Moises Velasquez and Junyong Chung from Chesapeake Conference’s Atholton Adventist Academy (AAA) in Columbia, Md., recently won the "Best High School Short" award at the Sonscreen Film Festival in Loma Linda, Calif. 

Their documentary, Blueprint for the Future: The Story of Atholton Adventist Academy, which was filmed over a three-year span, digs into the history of the school—a history that recently includes the expansion of its program, as it now offers a full high school, on-campus experience through Griggs International Academy. 

"The Atholton community has meant a lot to me and has been a major part of my life for 15 years and, over that time, I have truly learned to value not only those who are a present part of my education and development but also those who have come before to pave the way for my experience,” says O'Ffill. “This project came from that feeling of value in both the past, present and future that my friends and I had, and we wanted to give back in a way that would be meaningful.” 

Chung adds, “As AAA expands to 12th grade, my friends and I wanted to preserve the stories from the past to motivate people to push for a better future. We wanted a medium where we could document and preserve AAA’s history while telling a story, and we thought that film was one of the best mediums to do that.” 

The film, which will premiere May 31, shows the seniors “embarking on a journey to learn the history of the school as they look for ways to help it grow,” says Atholton Principal Miya Kim. “The film is a story of what they learned—lessons that will carry them into the future.” 

The students created the film as part of an extracurricular group that produces videos and social media content for the school, explains Mark Comberiate, an Atholton alumnus and filmmaker who mentors the students. 

While visiting California for Sonscreen—an annual gathering for students and young creatives with a passion for film—the group also received a private backstage tour of the NBCUniversal Studios' movie studio backlot and visited several local scenic spots.  

"My experience at Sonscreen was surreal. It was amazing to see all these other Adventist filmmakers and the quality of product they were able to produce,” says Velasquez. “It was also extremely rewarding to win ‘Best High School Short’ after three years of demanding work on our project. Overall, I am so glad the trip was possible and that we were able to share our skills with others.” 

The film will be presented at the Atholton (Md.) church on Sabbath, May 31, during AAA’s senior baccalaureate service.