{"id":1316680,"date":"2019-11-13T17:58:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T00:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=990822"},"modified":"2019-11-13T17:58:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T00:58:25","slug":"glenwood-high-senior-finds-deeper-meaning-with-capstone-film-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/glenwood-high-senior-finds-deeper-meaning-with-capstone-film-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Glenwood High senior finds \u2018deeper meaning\u2019 with capstone film project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
AJ Adams, left, and Bridget Steel, one of the cancer patients Adams interviewed for his capstone project documentary, “Connections \u2014 A Deeper Meaning of Cancer.”<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

A Glenwood Springs High School student\u2019s family cancer experience has turned into an extra-special \u2014 and extra-personal \u2014 senior capstone project.<\/p>\n

When A.J. Adams\u2019 mother, Catherine, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, he wasn\u2019t sure how to deal with the news. What he did know is that he wanted to be part of his mom\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started doing some of my own research to try to understand the process my mom was going through,\u201d Adams, who was a sophomore at the time, said.<\/p>\n

When Catherine began cancer treatments at the Calaway Young Cancer Center at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, A.J. and his sisters were given a tour of the facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt showed me how positive and upbeat everyone is, and it changed my whole opinion on it, so I decided to get more involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That fall, he formed a Rally the Valley team<\/a>, the GWS Ballers, inviting some of his GSHS basketball teammates to help raise money through the annual event for the integrative therapy services offered to cancer patients at the center. <\/p>\n

This fall marked Adams\u2019 third year organizing a Rally the Valley team. During that span of time they\u2019ve raised over $3,000.<\/p>\n

Last year, during a visit to the Cancer Center, A.J. befriended Tom Sullivan, who was going through chemotherapy treatments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started talking to him about what he was going through and just trying to get his mind off the whole cancer thing, and bring him into a more positive light,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThat helped me a lot, because I learned what it\u2019s like to connect with someone and have them open up their life to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He decided to build on that experience and turn it into his senior capstone project. <\/p>\n

The Roaring Fork School District requires all seniors to complete a capstone \u2014 a type of hands-on, experiential, real-life project \u2014 as a requirement for graduation.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
A.J. Adams and Michael Taylor, who graduated from high school last year and one of the people interviewed in the film.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The final product, a 17-minute film documentary titled \u201cConnections \u2014 A Deeper Meaning of Cancer,\u201d will be screened for free at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Orchard in Carbondale.<\/p>\n

Adams started working on the project during his junior year, lining up interviews and following cancer patients and their caregivers through their cancer experience.<\/p>\n

A necessary aspect of a capstone project is to work directly with community experts for guidance. Adams worked with Jo Bershenyi, manager of the integrated therapy services at the Cancer Center, and Rodney O\u2019Byrne, who joined in to help with the technical details.<\/p>\n

Bershenyi said it\u2019s rare for children of cancer patients to show the level of interest Adams did.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he asked me to help, the answer was \u2018absolutely, yes,\u2019\u201d Bershenyi said. \u201cBut I also told him we would need to have some pretty brutal conversations about cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in it every day, and not everyone gets out of it,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s part of it, and he\u2019s seeing that in his journey.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n
\n
A.J. Adams and Tucker Stinson. Tucker was diagnosed when he was an infant and is a survivor.<\/strong>
Provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Among the patients Adams engaged with for the project was a young boy named Tucker Stinson. Immediately, there was a connection, Adams related.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d had cancer since before he could really remember, so I talked to him and his dad about it together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The caregiver stories are equally compelling, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely helped me process it, because I was able to learn about how other people handled things,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery person I interviewed was super positive, and they were all continuing on with their lives and still making a difference in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to leave with the idea that cancer isn\u2019t life-defining,\u201d Adams said of the Sunday film screening. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t shut down who you are and doesn\u2019t stop you from being you \u2014 as long as you find support, connect with other people, keep humor in your life and always find a way to smile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several survivors are included in the film, including his mom. Some of the subjects have terminal diagnoses. And one, longtime community organizer and cancer support coach, Nancy Reinisch, died earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The screening is free, but Adams asks that people sign up at his EventBrite page: https:\/\/connectionsadeepermeaningofcancer.eventbrite.com<\/a><\/p>\n

He also has a Facebook page, connectionsadeepermeaningofcancer, as well as a website: http:\/\/www.aaronjamesadams.com<\/a> <\/p>\n

jstroud@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AJ Adams, left, and Bridget Steel, one of the cancer patients Adams interviewed for his capstone project documentary, “Connections \u2014 A Deeper Meaning of Cancer.”Provided A Glenwood Springs High School student\u2019s family cancer experience has turned into an extra-special \u2014 and extra-personal \u2014 senior capstone project. When A.J. Adams\u2019 mother, Catherine, was diagnosed with breast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 13:27:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316680\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}