Portsmouth High School Filmakers Depart for Humanitarian Trip to Ghana

Mike Sandfort and Cecelia Girr, 18, of , will travel this week with 10 of their fellow students to Ghana in Western Africa on a humanitarian trip. Both students will use the experience as inspiration for their combined senior projects.

The group, part of Infinity Volunteers, will be involved with a Web design seminar at The Professional Secretarial Academy of Ghana (PROFESA) in Abeka. This non-profit vocational training school educates impoverished young women who cannot otherwise afford to attend public high school.

Sandfort and Girr are teaming up to document the time spent in the third world country and hope to present the short film at this spring at Newport’s Jane Pickens Theater.

Girr, an aspiring filmmaker, plans to not only document the trip, but also tell a “story within the story” about the unique mentoring relationship between Kimberley Cunningham, Infinity Volunteers co-founder and fellow student Melissa Chaplin.

This will be Chaplin’s second trip with Infinity and Girr chose her to be the focal point due to the fact “she is well spoken, has inspired her to get involved with Infinity and is a veteran with volunteer organization.” Chaplin’s music will also be an integral part of the video documentary’s finished product.

Upon returning, Girr’s mentor, Rocco Michaluk, of Video & Vision, an independent film and video production company based in Newport, will help her with all postproduction editing and music.  

For Sandfort's part, he will organize, orchestrate and produce the finished project and present it for the premiere showing complete with a pre-party and Q&A session afterwards.

Sandfort's mentor for the project, Stacia Anthony of Exquisite Events in Newport, will guide him through the party planning process and staging the event.

Sandfort feels “advertising and financing will be his biggest challenges in getting the video documentary shown," but admits, “right now the pressure is on CeCe. If she doesn’t get the video made, he can’t graduate!”

Girr and Sandfort have always been encouraged by their parents to give back and have been involved in local volunteer projects, ranging soup kitchens to homeless shelters.

Sandforts parents, Bob and Katrina, think it’s a great opportunity for Michael and the rest of the students who are going on the trip.

“Not only are they seeing a part of the world that many of us never get a chance to see, but they are, at the same time, doing some good for the students of the Ghanian school. Learning and doing, is there anything better than that," said both his parents.

When asked about concerns of the potential hazards of traveling to a third world country they replied, “yes, it's far away and there are potential hazards that we don't face on a daily basis in our country, but again, it opens our eyes to what other people face each day. We have nothing but incredible admiration for Kim Cunningham and the other Infinity Volunteers who have made such a commitment to this trip. We know Michael is in good hands with her.”

Both students have worked very hard to get where they are going, and are excited “to be embarking on a project that can influence someone else’s life and your own forever.”

For more information about Infinity Volunteers, visit their Web site at http://www.goinfinity.org.

Correction: An earlier version of this story published an incorrect spelling of Melissa Chaplin's name.