East Lyme Middle School social studies teacher Anne Haling is always thinking outside the box.

When she discovered that several of her students had an interest in documentary filmmaking, she offered them the opportunity to enter the national C-SPAN StudentCam contest in January 2017.

In just six weeks, East Lyme seventh graders Jasper Wright, Sachi Vora and Cannon Dean created an original six-minute documentary called “Can We Put the Care Back in Healthcare?”, which won an Honorable Mention prize from almost 3,000 entries.

The students also attended with Haling the CECA Tech Expo, meeting both state Sen. Paul Formica, R-East Lyme, and state Rep. Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme.

The students followed up those experiences with the news that their film has been chosen by the New Haven Film Festival as an official selection. The documentary will be screened starting at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale. The screening is free and open to the public.

This piece was adapted from an email sent by Shaler Wright, mother of Jasper Wright. To get your own hometown news in the paper, email l.howard@theday.com.