West Valley City • Phaedra Johnson’s Hunter High students have something in common with the Lithuanian national basketball team.
The basketball team overcame the odds and won a bronze medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics. Because of that accomplishment, the team will be the subject of the documentary "The Other Dream Team," which will be screened at the Sundance Film Festival.
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Continuing Sundance coverage
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The students at Hunter High have overcome some challenges, too. And, like the Lithuanian basketball team, they plan to make an appearance at Sundance.
"It’s a cultural activity that a lot of them wouldn’t get to do," Johnson said. "Number one, they don’t have the money. But they also don’t know how to navigate things."
Johnson, an English teacher, mentors students in Hunter’s AVID program. The course, known by its acronym for Advancement Via Individual Determination, helps students prepare for college.
The program targets students who have college potential and would stand as the first generation in their family to pursue higher education. Typically, the students are poorer than the average Hunter High student, Johnson said.
Besides teaching students how to study and stay organized, Johnson said AVID has given students their first visit to a college campus and, in a few cases, even their first visit to a sit-down restaurant.
When Johnson had the chance to take the students to a Sundance movie for the first time in 2010, she took them to "A Small Act." The documentary was about a Kenyan student whose education was sponsored by a stranger. When he grew up, the student started his own scholarship program.
Johnson said she chose the film to give her students a lesson in overcoming adversity. She liked the film so much, she purchased a copy and still shows it in her classes.
This year, Johnson let the seniors in AVID choose the film. By choosing "The Other Dream Team" — which students will see Tuesday at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center — Johnson sees the opportunity to teach another lesson in overcoming adversity.
The students hope to see a celebrity at the festival. (Actor Jared Leto was at the top of their wish list last year, Johnson said.) But Johnson said her students also have enjoyed the films, and the question-and-answer sessions with the director or cast after the screening.
Tickets for the Hunter High students are free, thanks, in part, to sponsors such as Zions Bank, Salt Lake County government and the Utah Arts Council.
Last year, Sundance provided tickets to 55 schools in Park City and along the Wasatch Front. Those schools brought about 4,800 students, according to Meredith Lavitt, associate director of Sundance Institute’s Film Forward and the Utah Community Programs. Fifty-six schools are scheduled to attend the festival this year, Lavitt said.
Lavitt said festival organizers want to introduce high-school students to independent filmmaking and provide them with a cultural experience.
"We see it as a great experience that doesn’t stop once the screening and the question-and-answer session is over," Lavitt said.
Johnson doesn’t need her students to reciprocate like the subject of "A Small Act," or achieve in public like the Lithuanian basketball team. Her dream is for her students to go to college and graduate.
"Part of the AVID program is to help them succeed once they get there," Johnson said. "That’s my goal."
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