Eléonore Hamelin, a filmmaker and journalist, presented to Arrowhead High School as a guest speaker for the AP Literature classes. When she talked to the AP classes, she covered the crisis between the US and Mexico Border. Hamelin talked on November 10, 2023, via Zoom.
Katie Herrmann, an AP literature teacher, said, “One of the current projects [Hamelin] is working on is the border crisis between the US and Mexico so she is trying to interview parents and children that have been separated at the border and tell their stories and what it’s been like for them.”
According to Hamelin’s website, she has created 30 short documentaries about addiction, death, and immigration. Those short films have reached millions worldwide. Hameline worked for Blue Chalk Media, as a director and producer, and Brut America as the Head of Documentaries.
“My class was reading a novel, Slaughterhouse 5, about a story that a lot of Americans don’t know about and so just kind of as a supplemental engagement activity we brought in a journalist who works with the Pulitzer center. This was a current example of the story we were looking at was written during the vietnam war. That was kind of the purpose of that, just to see these types of stories in our current world as well,” Herrmann said.
During the pandemic, Hamelin became aware that in the Navajo Nation, in the southwest United States, a lot of people were living in poverty without access or the ability to find out what was happening in the news. When Covid happened, some were not aware that there was a pandemic going on. Hamelin told Herrmann’s students how a small news organization called Navajo Nation, which is run by seven people, managed to inform this whole community of thousands of people about what was going on.
Senior Eden Harrison said, “I think Hamelin related a lot to what we were discussing in class because our entire book was not well known. It was interesting to hear what she had to say and the struggles she has faced through her journey being a journalist especially during the pandemic.”
Hamelin told Herrmann’s AP Lit students that she does a lot of freelance journalism. The Navajo Nation Covid story she told was in honor of Native American Indigenous Peoples Heritage Month, but related to her struggles as a journalist.
Herrmann says her students learned about journalism in general, as well as about the importance of getting stories out, and how journalism is an important field.
Herrmann said, “It was just kind of an amazing thing that they were able to keep this up and running; it was just such a vital tool for the community to be able to navigate the pandemic.”
Hamelin has a documentary covering the Navajo Nation Newspaper which is in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, a non-profit organization focused on getting underreported stories into the news.
Hamelin told Herrmann’s students that she has lived in five different countries and the childhood experience of moving around and having to learn different languages has made her an observant and curious person.
Senior Emily Mattson said, “It was nice to be able to see and relate what [Hamelin] said back to the book. I think underreported stories should be pushed out more or at least attempted to be pushed out.”
Last year, Herrmann said she had a refugee from Rohingya talk to her students. He talked about how difficult it was to be a man without a country and then having to live somewhere else where customs and language are foreign.
Herrmann says she has done poetry and essay contests with her students as well as brought in speakers from the Pulitzer Center.
On the Pulitzer Center, under resources, there is a place where teachers can schedule visits online or in person. Once a form is filled out on the website, a staff member will reach out with potential guest speakers. Once that speaker is confirmed, all the details are finalized and resources are sent out.
“It’s nice to have a resource for us and a real life example of things we are learning in the class. It helps me gain a better understanding of everything that happens in the book and be able to apply it back to the novel,” Harrison said.
