As the first semester comes to a close, Mr. Paul McCrary finishes teaching his first Documentary Film class. Documentary Film was introduced this year to students along with many other new classes, such as AP World History and Consitutional Law.

“Students walk away with a brief history of America through documentary film.  This skill is extremely important… not only in other High School and college classes but is just a good thing to know in life,” said Documentary Film student Matt Zakowski. “This class will interest anyone who has [an] interest in Film and American Culture.”

Mr. McCrary, who is a popular teacher amongst students at Glen Rock, said, “I think it is a big step for students at Glen Rock. I know many of my students enjoyed this class and many of the upperclassmen will hopefully take a documentary film class in college.”

Due to the fact that majority of these classes are comprised of seniors and juniors, Mr. McCrary tries to emulate a college Documentary Film course. Students can see that the textbook is college-level and is also used in the University of Syracuse Documentary Film program.

Not only are the textbooks college-level, but the Reaction Papers are also scored on an advanced scale. Mr. McCrary posts a list of movie titles on his website and each student picks one movie and has to write a reaction paper based off its subject, form, bias, techniques displayed in the film, and impact on the audience.

Some students who are loooking forward to taking Documentary Film include sophomore student Chris Major.

“I am excited to take and experience what Documentary film is all about. I heard it is a fun course,” he said.