Maricao is a small, hard to reach municipality in the heart of Puerto Rico’s mountain chain. It is in this small town that we find the seventeen 11th grade students who mobilized their entire school and community to attain what until then had been perceived as impossible.
The only high school in this complicated region was slated to be closed after nine years of demonstrated failure on the yearly standardized tests. The students understood the impossibility of finishing their high school careers and the disastrous impact on their small community if their school closed. They assumed the responsibility and accepted the challenge of rescuing their school. By working hard to prepare for that year’s tests and by disseminating information of the situation to the citizens of their community they achieved what had never happened before. This must see film, demonstrates what we are able to accomplish if we dare.
The Suncoast Chapter is one of nineteen Chapters in the United States of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. They have been granted by their parent organization, the rights to bestow Emmy Awards within the Suncoast region of Florida, Louisiana, the Mobile, Alabama television market and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. “Los 17” will be competing in the Documentary - Topical category against 7 other films as follows:
Away: A Story of Trash
Jeremy Peplow
WEDU-TV, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, FL
Turning the Tide
Bob Neese
Louisiana Public Broadcasting, Baton Rouge, LA
ShelterBox
Don Gangnagel
Salt & Light Productions, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, FL
Los 17
Noel Quinones, Juan Agustin Marquez
Casa Grande Interactive Communication, San Juan, PR
Troopers: Inside the Florida Highway Patrol
Don Gangnagel
Salt & Light Productions, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, FL
Uniform Betrayal: Rape in the Military
Jennifer Molina, Sarah Pusateri
WUSF/HealthyState.org, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, FL
The Cancer Dancer
Juan Pablo Santos, Patricia San Pedro
Promofilm US, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, FL
The Final Shuttle Launch
Robert Longo
WESH-TV, Orlando-Daytona Beach, FL
Follow the Emmy awards to find out the results. And the winner is…