Posted on by john.noetzel

AHS English 11 Honors students create local landmark commercials

group of students and staff stand on stage
AHS English 11 Honors teacher Kelly Peugh-Forte (far left), along with student participants and judges for the county landmark commercials project.

Who could create the top commercial to get you to visit a Montgomery County landmark? That was the challenge facing English 11 Honors students in Kelly Peugh-Forte’s class at Amsterdam High School this month.

The students were assigned a research paper project requiring them to get out into the local community and research a county attraction. Once they completed their research, students were later challenged to write, develop and produce a 60-90 second commercial to persuade people to visit.

Six of the top commercials were chosen by the class to premiere Sept. 30 in the AHS Bert DeRose Theater. Several celebrity guests from the area were called to the premiere to view each finalist and to do the judging. The student who created the top commercial, as determined by these distinguished judges, would receive a gift certificate to a Montgomery County restaurant of choice.

Judges included Montgomery County Executive Matthew Ossenfort, City of Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti, Michele Pawlik, Assistant Director of Tourism and Recreation, John Naple, from the Amsterdam Free Library Board and GASD Board of Education President Dr. Nellie Bush and Vice President Curtis Peninger.

The six video commercial finalists (use the link to view the commercials) they viewed featured:

Congratulations to student Alec Bartone who won first prize with his Historic Fort Johnson commercial. Thank you to everyone for participating in this project.