Filming the life of teenagers

Student services director Robyn Lady led the panel discussion following the film.

Chantilly hosted a screening of the documentary “Race to Nowhere” produced by Vicki Abeles, an ex-Wall Street lawyer and mother of three on Feb. 10. The documentary focuses on the pressures and stress that affect the teenagers of this generation. Sweeping the nation, this grassroots sensation is trying to expose the dark side of the high-achieving culture of the youths in America.

Encouraged by the film team of the documentary, schools around Fairfax County and the nation have been hosting screenings of the film.

“Ms. Pickett, the PTA president over at Franklin, Ms Cleveland, the PTA president over at Rocky Run and I got together and thought it would be a good idea to bring [this documentary] to the parents,” Chantilly PTSA president Lennard Litton said.

These screenings have been open to the public to try and raise awareness of the relative issues that this film presents.

“[The documentary] is a good tool to educate parents and students about what’s going on with this generation of teenagers in school and some of the pressures they are feeling,” sub-school 1 counselor Jon Paul Sousa said. “A lot of kids are feeling the stress and pressures of being successful and achieving expectations, some that they put on themselves and some that others put on them.”

Following the screening of the film, a panel including representatives from the community, Chantilly’s child psychologist Doug Lipp, AP Literature teacher Nicole Lehman, Sousa and senior Ngoc Duong, the student representative, answered questions from the public.

During the panel discussion, parents and viewers were allowed to voice their opinions of the movie and their concerns.

Duong said that some parents asked questions about the stance of the panel, others simply talked about anecdotes of their children and the problems they were facing.

“I was disappointed that some of the parents didn’t listen to some of the points that I had made,” Duong said.

Duong is currently taking five AP classes while being heavily involved in the National Honor Society, Interact Club and DECA.

“I can relate to the movie, senior year more than other years, but I feel that even with five AP classes and being involved in school, I still have time to have a social life, have fun and hang out with my family without feeling stressed,” Duong said. “I felt that the movie covered only a small portion of what students experience in school; students stress out because they have trouble organizing.”

Parent Mary Strait, mother of two children, was one of the parents who attended the viewing and contributed to the discussion.

“[The documentary] brought to light some of the problems we have in the school here. I think the hard thing for the kids is that they are told in one hand they have to perform at the highest level and they don’t really know what their abilities are,” Strait said. “Some of them just lose it and some of them are able to perform and reach those levels of success. So how do we bridge the gap between those kids?”

Following the documentary, many parents commented about how they will change their attitude at home when talking and interacting with their children.
“I will listen to my kids a little bit more in terms of what they think they are capable of doing and what they want to do,” Strait said.

documentary, Race to Nowhere Arts & Style, Issue 6, Print