SHS student to receive Hope Givers Film Challenge Grant

Tazmeria Wilson, a rising senior at Statesboro High School, and her varsity golf coach, Chad Ferrell, who is also the school’s Audio Visual & Film teacher, partnered to enter the 2021 Hope Givers Film Challenge.  Hope Givers announced earlier this month that Taz was first runner-up in the overall contest, and she won the Hope Givers Storytelling Award as part of the contest.  

Tamlin Hall, founder and executive producer of the new uplifting documentary series, Hope Givers, that will launch on Georgia Public Broadcasting & National PBS Learning Media in September, will visit Statesboro High School on Monday, June 28, to meet Tazmeria Wilson and Chad Ferrell and present Taz with a grant for $600. Hall is also a part-time screenwriting faculty member at the University of Georgia and writing instructor at Emory Continuing Education. Taz’s film will premiere on September 1.

In her award-winning short film, Taz shares her story of hope. She had both of her legs amputated when she was three-years old due to a rare bone condition called bilateral tibial hemimelia. She is a member of the Statesboro High Girls Golf Team.  She credits her school physical therapist from pre-kindergarten, with whom she remained in contact, with recommending golf as a sport to her when she was in eighth grade. 

According to the Hope Givers Film Challenge website, Hope Givers created the contest to “combat the isolation and mental health challenges COVID-19 has brought to students and educators across America. The 2021 Hope Film Challenge is an inclusive initiative to make substantive advances for connectedness in schools with students and trusted adults as well as support 6th-12th Grade student filmmakers in producing short film content (30-90 seconds) to practice their craft and further develop their storytelling capabilities in telling stories featuring hope and resilience.”

The contest was open to students in grades 6-12, and they were required to partner with an education mentor in their school to submit a 30-90 second video.