'Home of the Dolphins' is School in Dolphin Tale

Students and staff of Largo's Mildred Helms Elementary School were extras in the movie Dolphin Tale based on the famous resident Winter. 

Mildred Helms, "Home of the Dolphins," was used as the scene for a summer school class.

[Watch a trailer to Dolphin Tale]

The film is inspired by the true story of Winter, a rescued dolphin that lost its tale, and an 11-year-old boy who befriends her. About 180 people from school went to the movie together the weekend it premiered. 

Although school was in session during the two days of filming last fall, several students were extras in the movie. Former Mildred Helms student Samantha Smith said she got to walk across the street and sit in the classroom on the movie set.

“It was weird seeing myself on the screen in the movie theatre. It was one long, 12 hour day of filming… it was cool to be in the movie because I went to Mildred Helms from kindergarten through fifth grade,” Smith said.

One of the school’s first grade classrooms was transformed into a middle school classroom for the movie. The movie crew took detailed pictures of the classroom then restored it back exactly as the teacher had left the room. The filmmakers picked the classroom for the light and the covered awning outside the window, said principal Sandra Cowley.

During filming the school staff had peeked through the Venetian blinds to watch the activitiy in the school field. The fenced area behind the school was filled with cooking tents, lights and air-conditioned trailers for the film's stars. Movie crews visited the school three times during the summer of 2010 to get proper permissions from the schol district. They began filming in September.

“They showed up one night and filled the field with tents… It was exciting,” Cowley said.