EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — Sophia Fertch and Ellie Berger are preparing for an interview with the mayor of East Palestine.

What You Need To Know

  • East Palestine High School students filmed a documentary on the train derailment

  • It aims to tell the story from a student's perspective

  • The documentary will air on EPTV, or East Palestine Television, which is the school's weekly morning announcements program. 

The students said they are a little bit nervous. 

They help shoot segments for EPTV, or East Palestine Television, which is a weekly morning announcement program for the school. They air episodes on the school’s YouTube channel every Friday.

The show has a small studio. The show has a low budget, and they have to do a lot with a little.

The show usually has a light feel to it, but now the program is taking a more serious tone.

It’s about the train derailment that sent 38 trains off the tracks, releasing toxic chemicals in the air and displacing people from their homes. The students are now making a documentary to show to the school.

“It was a collective idea," Adviser Emily Randolph said. "We like to spend a lot of time thinking about what is going on or happening to us. Our whole weekly program is just a recap of what is going on. So when we shut down for the week, after the derailment it gave everybody a little bit of time to think about how we want to perceive what was going on around us."

Randolph is an English teacher, and has never put a project together like this. Amid all the attention on this small town, she wants the documentary to give students a voice.

“They were hearing from a lot of people, but maybe didn’t necessarily feel like their voices were being heard," Randolph said. "A lot of people were hearing the adult take.” 

Students are incorporating the documentary into their school day. They’ve been working on this since Feb. 13, the first school day back since the derailment.

"The takeaway from me for them would be that they can take any situation that they're in, and refocus the perspective," Randolph said. "And make something that maybe isn't the best scenario into a better scenario." 

Tristan McCauley is editing the final version of the project, and is sifting through all the footage and images they’ve collected from news outlets and residents who took photos.

“I have gone to English....and that’s it," McCauley said. 

It’s moved from a hobby to a calling, with life changing experiences. Students have gotten one on one interviews with U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Ohio governor Mike Dewine. Laredo Cienik interviewed the Governor.

“Interviewing him, it’s me representing my school," Cienik said. "And I do a lot of representing of my school anyway because I’m a student representative. So that’s why they had me interview him. But it was just still nerve-racking," 

Fertch and Berger are gathering the final interview for the documentary.

After that, they’ll tell the tale of the little town that become the center of one of the biggest environmental disasters in recent memory.

Ellie said this project has found its footing by not just reporting the story, but by sharing how they live through it, and how the town and the students can move forward. 

“Us kids we like all live here and we see it first hand and the people who come to our town to take pictures and film stuff, they leave, they get to go home," Berger said. "They don’t get to see everything firsthand.”