Florala High School’s “Back In Time” bicentennial project proposal was one of 200 to receive state funding, and FHS 11th grade English teacher Hope Hinson said that she is glad to be given this opportunity.

Launched by Gov. Ivey in December 2017, the Alabama Bicentennial Schools Initiative encourages all public, private, and homeschool students and teachers to participate in the celebration of Alabama’s 200th anniversary of statehood in 2019. In early 2018, all K-12 schools in Alabama were invited to submit a proposal that engages in outreach and improvement projects to connect their classrooms with their local communities. Winners each receive $2,000.

“We are so excited,” Hinson said. “I just hope that the students will learn from the project.”

The project will require eleventh grade English students to conduct video interviews with people older than 60, about their high school days.

“The project will be graded,” Hinson said. “They will video the interview, edit it and then present it to me. We will then have a dinner at the end of the school year with all of the people that they interviewed so they can see the video.”

The $2,000 will be used to purchase the video equipment.

“We will probably use the money to purchase iPad minis,” Hinson said. “Also stands for the iPads. We want to use iPads so we can use iMovie to use the editing features.”

Hinson said that the students practiced making videos last year, but she is hoping to take the students to different classes on making videos.

“We will probably take the students to J-Day at Troy University,” Hinson said. “We want to make sure they know how to use the equipment properly.”

J-Day is Troy University’s School of Journalism and Communication’s event where they educate future college students in the fields of journalism or communication.

Hinson hopes that this project will help the students respect their elders and understand that they have it made.

“They don’t understand how hard our elders had to work,” Hinson said. “The students always find it funny that every person they interview had to work on a farm and have chores. I just hope this project will put some things in perspective about how good they have it.”

Gov. Ivey said that it makes her so proud to see such a strong showing of schools participating in the program.

“It is an honor to recognize these outstanding schools and their projects as we head into Alabama’s bicentennial year,” Ivey said. “The Alabama Bicentennial celebration is about bringing communities together and getting all of our citizens involved. The schools being honored are a great representation of that goal.”

Andalusia Elementary School was also recognized as an honorable mention and received a $500 grant.