Jacob Slagel ’26 (Photo: Moutain Lake PBS)
This past summer, Norwood student Jacob Slagel ’26 was presented with the Light and Shadow award by Moutain Lake PBS in partnership with the Beyond the Peaks Student Film Festival. As a project for the tenth-grade Integrated Humanities II, students were tasked to produce a film which would be entered in various categories for a chance to win a hefty sum of money. Students aged 13-18 from New York, Vermont and Quebec competed in this contest, which concluded with a premiere of the winning films in Plattsburgh, NY.
Slagel’s film covers a very meaningful and personal topic. “Even if I’m in a dark time I can always find the light, it’s all about how the way I look at it,” Slagel told Mountain Lake PBS over the summer.
In an interview with The Mirror, Slagel recalled a particular point that affected his athletic and social life. “When I was fourteen, I realized I had severe hip impingement, I had zero-degree hip mobility,” he said. He describes how his recovery not only took a physical but mental toll on his life.
Slagel said his film is a self-reflection on finding the small light no matter how big the tunnel is. When asked what he wanted his audience to walk away with after viewing the film he replied, “Everyone goes through dark times, but you choose whether you keep your head up high. If you keep at it and keep up the hard work, something will come out of it.”
