In the News - Santa Cruz Film Festival Register Pajaronian Film Documents Teen Pregnancy Teen pregnancy outside of marriage is a taboo subject, Watsonville High School student Ashley Soria said. But Soria and six other Watsonville High seniors shoved social constraints aside and decided to find out why their school is known for its high teen pregnancy rate. Soria, along with film students Missay Adrianna Contreras, Eric Tillery, Joseph Snyder, Curtis Green, Erik Espinoza and Cezar Froylan, talked to teen mothers and recorded their interviews in a film. Teen pregnancy "is just so normal" on campus, Soria said. A culture of teens becoming mothers perpetuates the cycle into the next generation, she saThe WHS film students challenged this norm, titling their documentary film, "Are we ready?" The film students came upon several snags during production. They found that teen moms were reluctant to go on camera and fathers outright refused, Contreras said. "We told them it’s a chance to get your voice heard, to make us see what you go through on a daily basis," Soria said. They realized that not many people talk about teen pregnancy, despite it being a widespread reality in Watsonville. In 2006, Watsonville had 245 teen births, 13.6 percent of total births, while Santa Cruz had 40, just 4.1 percent of total births, said Buu Thai, public affairs director for Planned Parenthood. The number of teen births had actually declined since the last decade, Green said. Soria said the film’s topic hit a raw nerve for her. During her senior year, she realized that her father was in the WHS teen parent program when he was a senior, after her mother gave birth to her. While researching, the students found that most Latino parents were comfortable talking to their sons about birth control, but it was not OK to talk to girls about preventing pregnancy. This finding was disturbing, considering girls are beginning to engage in sexual activity at an increasingly younger age, with some as young as 11, Thai said. Production had to be sped up after an unanticipated invitation was given to the students from the Santa Cruz Film Festival to show their work to hundreds of people, said ROP Video Academy lead teacher Huve Rivas. The students were helped in redoubling their production time by three University of California at Santa Cruz film students who served as mentors. The film ventured into the even more controversial issue of abortion. When some of the students went to Planned Parenthood to esearch, they found data on the number of teen moms requesting services for abortion: 0 "Abortion just doesn’t happen," Soria said. The WHS students had to show an uncut version of their film on March 16, which was compared against five films being produced by students at Aptos High and San Lorenzo Valley High. "Ours just really wasn’t good," Snyder said. "They said it had to be a lot better or we were not going to be able to participate (in the film festival.)" Snyder, the film’s editor, worked at his house all weekend cutting out comedy skits that the film critics frowned on and making the script flow better " refocusing the piece on the question if teens are ready to give birth. "They have to grow up a lot faster," said Elisa Singh, health educator for Planned Parenthood, especially because while the mothers’ family provides support, the father statistically does not. "They (teen couples) may hope they will be together forever, but the odds are against them," Singh said. Despite the problems inherent in teen pregnancy, the WHS students’ conclusions in the film were mainly positive. "Most became really motivated to finish school through the teenage mothers program," Soria said. "It takes them longer, but they get there." Their film will be shown Saturday at 11 a.m. at The Rio Theater as part of the Santa Cruz Film Festival’s Youth Empowering Youth: Student Films for Social Change. Immediately following the film festival Saturday will be a special private showing and party at the Crepe Place sponsored by ROP. "The movie is well done, I am very proud of them," Rivas said. |