Special Needs Students

Southside Occupational Academy and University of Chicago Medical Center provide special needs students with more than just job-training.   These students attend a unique school, with classrooms designed for specific real-life after-school jobs.  One classroom is a small Jewel food store.  Another a coffee shop, or a custodian business.

The best performing students move on, taking a bus each morning to an actual internship in the “real world.”  One of the internship programs is at University of Chicago Medical Center.  With skilled CPS staff guiding their day, the students perform a number of tasks.

We were commissioned by the Chicago Public Schools Office of Disability Learning and Support Services to document this program.  We spent two full days filming the students at work, and interviewing students, CPS staff, and leaders at UCMC.

The final video is a weave of the images collected and the insights gathered through extensive interviews.  The final cut was supplemented by a poignant music track, and the eventual story is told through the eyes of an incredible young man, Brandon Logan.

This is a prime example of how a well-crafted short-form documentary can bring to life a real-life story.  We are proud of this piece and would welcome the chance to explore this approach in your next video production.