Harper High School
In the 2011 -2012 school year, Harper High School, located in one of Chicago's most violent neighborhoods, saw 29 of its current and recent students shot.
Best Documentary: Gold2013 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition2013 / Alex Kotlowitz / Ben Calhoun / Linda Lutton / This American Life, USA
In the 2011 -2012 school year, Harper High School, located in one of Chicago's most violent neighborhoods, saw 29 of its current and recent students shot.
21 were wounded, eight of them died. This American Life spent five months at Harper following staff, students and families as the struggled to cope with the previous year's trauma and to ward off new violence. Here's an excerpt from the one-hour documentary.
Harper High School won the Best Documentary: Gold Award in the 2013 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition. It was produced by Ben Calhoun, Linda Lutton and Alex Kotlowitz, with producer and editor Julie Snyder, co-producer Robyn Semien and editor Ira Glass for This American Life.
Hear more listen to part 1 in its entirety and part 2 of Harper High School. Check out more reporting by Linda Lutton on the Chicago public school system.
produced by
Alex Kotlowitz is a regular contributor to the New York Times Magazine , The New Yorker , and This American Life , among other publications.
Ben Calhoun (@benccalhoun) is an Editor for This American Life.
Linda Lutton (@lindalutton) is an education reporter for WBEZ in Chicago.
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