Eye for Change: GJHS Student’s Documentary Focuses on Gender Equality and History | Western Colorado

And it was at this point that Cameron Kirkegaard and Lily Goldberg, who asked questions while Kirkegaard was filming the interview, knew that his documentary needed to address gender inequality.

Kirkegaard is 16 years old and a student at Grand Junction High School. Making documentaries is his passion, but also an occasional class project.

His latest film, “Our Time: Advancing Gender Equality in School and Society,” will premiere on Friday at 19:00November 1, in the Grand Junction High School auditorium, 1400 N. Fifth St.

The film is 33 minutes long and includes interviews with Grand Junction High School graduates and staff.

It was a project born out of Kirkegaard’s desire to refine his filmmaking skills, which came to light over a year ago with “A Relentless Climb.”

This documentary focused on the long struggle of Black Americans for social, economic and political rights. Several community displays took place in 2023, including one organized by Black Citizens and Friends in honor of Black History Month.

Kirkegaard created “A Relentless Climb” for an eighth-grade social studies assignment and used mostly found photos and video and audio clips.

“Our Time,” however, was a “passion project,” he said.

He wanted to change the formula he used for “The Relentless Climb” and shoot most of the footage for the documentary himself. “I wanted to do something better,” he said.

With Grand Junction High School moving into a new building this year, Kirkegaard thought he might interview alumni about their memories of when the school’s last building, the one built in 1956 and now being torn down – it was new.

He borrowed a camera from his dad and another from Steve Fox, a journalism teacher in Grand Junction.

To purchase additional equipment, Kirkegaard applied for and received a $750 film education grant from the Colorado Office of Motion Picture, Television and Media. He then sought advice from Cullen Purser, the creator of the Fruita films, on what to buy.

They met at a screening of “A Relentless Climb” when Cullen Purser was filming a story about Kirkegaard for Rocky Mountain PBS. If Kirkegaard has questions about the film in the future, “I’ll be happy to help,” Cullen Purser told the teenager.

So when Kirkegaard called, they were talking about his documentary idea and filming equipment — using grant funds, Kirkegaard bought SD cards, microphones, lights and batteries for the lights — and Cullen Purser happened to know the 1960 Grand Junction graduate: his mother.

Judy Purser has lots of good memories and good friends from high school, she said. Among her memories, however, was one of taking a shower at the end of gymnastics class.

There was also a story about how during the boys wrestling season, she and her classmates at Monday’s first gymnastics class had to use Clorox water to wipe down the mats the wrestling team was using over the weekend. “Blood, sweat, tears, body hair and whatever else came out of these guys,” Judy Purser said in the documentary.

“It was just assumed that girls would do it,” she said in an interview earlier this week. “No gloves.”

“I remember… feeling like it wasn’t right, even then. It didn’t feel right to me,” she said. – You didn’t really question it out loud.

Judy Purser said there were also dress codes requiring girls to wear modest dresses or skirts.

Boys also had to dress a certain way. No T-shirts unless worn as an undershirt. Pants had to be clean, ironed and worn with a belt, but at least you had to wear pants, which would be nice, especially in winter, she said.

“I don’t know when people realized that girls were cold in the winter,” Judy Purser said.

Kirkegaard’s interview with Judy Purser led to interviews with other alumni and some current and former Grand Junction employees. Goldberg, a classmate and friend of Kirkegaard, participated in many of these interviews to ask questions during the making of the film.

Several key topics emerged from the interviews, including dress codes, career opportunities, the impact of Title IX, feminism, and the League of Women Voters.

“To switch gears or see something bigger is a really mature thing,” Cullen Purser said of Kirkegaard’s decision to stray from her original idea for the documentary.

“I want to say that Cameron is a young Ken Burns,” said Cullen Purser, naming one of the most famous American documentary filmmakers. “(Kirkegaard) catalogs the voices of history. He documents them with very little of Cameron’s ego involved, and that’s amazing.”

“Our Time” is focused locally because of its connection to Grand Junction High School, but has relevance to a story that spans the country, said Cullen Purser, who watched the documentary and will moderate a Q&A panel after the screening.

While he is impressed by Kirkegaard’s development of ideas, he is also excited by his technical advances in matters such as shot composition. “It’s a big effort for a young man. It’s a big effort for everyone,” he said.

“My editing skills have definitely improved,” said Kirkegaard, who is taking several film directing classes at CMU Tech.

“I would say that with any documentary, the hardest part is usually taking all the material and putting it together into a story that is followable, that is emotional and can make the audience feel something,” Kirkegaard said.

Kirkegaard was “impressed and grateful for every person he talked to and filmed… just for being able to be open and vulnerable with me,” he said.

“This young man got a good project,” Judy Purser said. “I think it’s an important story.”

He hopes to see many of his former classmates and Grand Junction graduates at Friday’s show. He also hopes that many young men, women and students will participate in the event.

“I would just be happy for them to see that everything has changed… for the better,” Judy Purser said, then added. “There is a way to do it.”

WATCH THE VIDEO

“Our Time: Advancing Gender Equality in School and Society” will be shown on Friday, November 1 at 7 p.m., in the Grand Junction High School auditorium, 1400 N. Fifth St. Admission is free. The documentary lasts approximately 33 minutes. Features interviews with Grand Junction High School alumni and staff, as well as photos and videos from the school’s past. The screening will be followed by a Q&A panel with Joan Edmonds, Sheila Dawson Zipse and Judy Purser, who star in the film, and Kirkegaard. It will be moderated by Cullen Purser.