Camp to Campus documentary to premiere February 5th
The “Camp to Campus” documentary will premier at 7 p.m., Tuesday, February 5, 2013, in the Dore Theatre. The 90-minute film focuses on first-generation college graduates who come from a migrant labor background.
The “Camp to Campus ” project is funded by a $10,000 grant from Cal Humanities’ Community Stories Fund, along with $15,000 in matching funds from CSUB. In the spring of 2012, a diverse group of more than 50 people responded to an initial survey. They shared their experiences of growing up as the children of migrant laborers-some living in labor camps, and some working in the fields themselves- making the journey to college, and succeeding there.
From among the respondents, fifteen people were interviewed this summer and fall for the film. Representing a range of professions, the interview subjects include descendants of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and the Mexican Bracero Program of the 1940s to ’60s, as well as the children of more recent migrant laborers. Excerpts from their interviews will be posted on this website in the coming weeks-stay tuned.
“By gathering and sharing these stories, the documentary offers insights about how people chose to leave the fields behind and attain higher education – and, more broadly, how first-generation college students negotiate different worlds,” said Marit MacArthur, project director and Associate Professor of English at CSUB. “What struggles have they faced? What were their motivations? And how have they succeeded?”
Throughout February and March, the “Camp to Campus” documentary will also be shown at local high schools and community colleges, hosted by members of the grant project team from CSUB, who will facilitate discussions of the film. A calendar of events related to “Camp to Campus will be regularly updated on this website. (If you would like to arrange a screening for your organization or community, please contact Dr. MacArthur at mmacarthur@csub.edu or at 661-654-6503.)
High school and community college students will have the chance to compete for scholarships to CSUB in an essay and video-essay contest about the documentary. The prompts for the essays will be posted on this website in January, with a deadline for submission of April 10, 2012.
