L ifestyles /C ulture
Film Event Captures School Counselor Need
F IL M
SELAH MAYA ZIGHELBOIM | JE STAFF
OVER LUNCH,
Enoch Jemmott’s frustration mounts
as his mother reveals she doesn’t
have her 1099 in her files.

Jemmott is one of the subjects of
the film Personal Statement, which
documents some of the challenges
facing students from low-income
backgrounds. Jemmott needed the
form for college, but over and over
again, obstacles blocked his path
to obtaining it.

It’s the scene, Director Juliane
Dressner said, that has most
shocked audiences. The docu-
mentary follows three students
— Jemmott, Christine Rodriguez
and Karoline Jimenez — as they
navigate the college application
process with little guidance. To
fill the guidance gap, the three
serve as peer college counselors
to their fellow students.

At 3 p.m. on Jan. 21,
Personal Statement will screen
at the Annenberg Center for
the Performing Arts.

The event will include a panel
discussion with School District
of Philadelphia student orga-
nizers and counselors, as well as
City Councilwoman At-Large
Helen Gym. Dan Urevick-
Ackelsberg of The Public
Interest Law Center will mod-
erate the discussion. Dressner,
who is Jewish, and Rodriguez
will be in attendance.

The event is free but RSVPs are
required. Attendees can reserve
tickets through Eventbrite.

“Often, we go to events and
the quote-unquote experts are
up there talking to the audi-
ence about the situation,” said
Heather Marcus, a school coun-
selor at Julia R. Masterman
Laboratory and Demonstration
School who organized the event.

“Based on the film, where
the students are just telling
their own stories, I wanted the
panel to represent students and
counselors telling our stories
in Philadelphia, so the audi-
ence could really hear what it
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Karoline Jimenez tries to track down a student so he can take the SAT.

was like from the students who
are seniors and juniors in our
schools in Philadelphia who
don’t have enough resources.”
The American School
Counselor Association recom-
mends a ratio of one school
counselor for every 250 students.

But nationwide, there is just
one school counselor for every
464 students, according to the
American School Counselor
Association’s data from the 2015-
2016 school year. In Pennsylvania
that same year, the ratio was one
counselor to 396 students.

While more than 90 percent
of high school students want
to go to college, many don’t
achieve higher education. The
National Center for Education
Statistics found that only 14
percent of students of low socio-
economic status obtain their
bachelor’s degree within eight
years of graduating high school.

“What we find is the college
counseling gap is a major cause
of this achievement gap, and yet,
many people are unaware of it,”
Dressner said. “When they’re
made aware of it, from seeing
the film and then hearing about
these statistics and the situation,
they’re outraged, and they want
to do something about it.”
About five years ago, Dressner
learned of College Access:
Research & Action (CARA), the
organization that trained the
three students to be peer college
counselors, and was struck by
its potential to tell a story about
education equity through film.

CARA was receptive to the idea.

On the first day of training,
Dressner was in a room with
70 students who were there
to learn about becoming peer
college counselors. Dressner
let them know she wanted to
make a film and that anyone
interested in collaborating
should come and talk to her.

She ended up selecting
Jemmott, Rodriguez and
Jimenez as her subjects.

“When people hear about
the fact that young people are
working as peer college coun-
selors, it’s hard to imagine just
hearing about it, that they’re
actually doing the work of
college counseling,” Dressner
said. “You don’t really under-
stand how powerful the work is
unless you can see it in action.”
Christine Rodriguez runs a workshop.

Personal Statement is not
Dressner’s first documen-
tary, although it is her first fea-
ture-length one. She previously
created the short films The Scars
of Stop-and-Frisk, published as an
op-doc by The New York Times,
and An Education, published by
The New York Times Magazine.

Filmmaking is a second
career for Dressner. She previ-
ously worked in the nonprofit
sector, where she documented
best practices in social programs,
including youth organizing. She
wanted to make documentaries
to share the work these young
people were doing.

Dressner said her Jewish
identity is part of what moti-
vates her to pursue social jus-
tice through film.

Photos provided
Though Personal Statement
came out last year, Dressner
has continued work around the
documentary through an out-
reach, engagement and impact
campaign. Dressner has worked
with Jemmott, Rodriguez and
Jimenez to attend screenings and
raise awareness about the need
for more school counselors.

They have put on screening to
inspire students from disadvan-
taged backgrounds to persist with
their own college aspirations.

“Our goal is to use the film to
really put this issue on the table, to
focus more light on it,” Dressner
said. “When people learn about
it, they can’t believe it.” l
szighelboim@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
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JEWISH EXPONENT
JANUARY 17, 2019
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