MOORHEAD -- A Moorhead High School senior will soon pack his bags for the world-famous Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
Not long after his recent standout performance in the high school musical "Big Fish," Sam Schaefer learned that a documentary he is featured in was selected for one of the world's largest film festivals.
"The first time I was interviewed was my sophomore (year)," Schaefer said of the documentary crew that has been following him for a couple of years.
Schaefer has been in theater and speech for years and now is on the star side of the camera.
"I think they wanted to show that activism and change doesn't have to start after college, that (high school) kids doing this right now who care just as much as everyone else," he said of the documentary.
A documentary film crew came to Fargo-Moorhead several times, as they followed Schaefer and four other high school students from across America who were preparing for the National Speech and Debate competition. Moorhead has a long history of debate success, regionally and nationally, and Schaefer has been a part of that.
And now, the announcement came this week that that documentary film, titled "Speak," has been selected for Sundance.
"Keeping the secret has been very difficult because I am not one to hide exciting news," Schaefer said of the news he has been sitting on for a few days.
Rebecca Meyer-Larson has been the guiding hand for students at Moorhead High Speech and Theater for the last 37-years. Her students have gone on to big things and now this. The longtime teacher puts the success all on the students.
"I feel super lucky, my primary job is to clap a lot and clap loudly. And to be with people who surround kids and say 'If you jump, we will catch you,' and it is not me, it is this community that is super, super supportive of these kids," Meyer-Larson said.
"Speak" is scheduled to premiere at Sundance on Jan. 24. Schaefer will be there. A chance for the world to learn more about Fargo-Moorhead and the star power coming out of Fargo-Moorhead.
"Something that Meyer-Larson says is that there are two types of people, those who give and those who take, and being able to grow in this program shows me how fun it is to be able to give," Schaefer said.