He's showing me the nice HD cameras his film students use and the kinds of microphones they can check out.
"Oh," Clifton Raphael says. "And here's the Emmy."
In a plain black box is an Emmy with Raphael's name on it. But he is quick to say who also received one.
That would be 19-year-old Crystal Kayiza, who was one of his students in a class where the assignments are clear: make documentaries that matter.
That's what Kayiza did when she told the story called "All That Remains" about the historic black town of Boley in Okfuskee County.
The teacher and student received national attention recently when they earned the top award in broadcasting by beating out two Denver TV stations and tying the Denver Post.
Read about the win in a story by Staff Writer Kim Archer. The trophy was the latest in a string of events that have people noticing the program. Their documentaries keep showing up on OETA and earning tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and contest winnings.
Raphael invited me to come to his class on Monday to talk about interviewing and the elements of story, something he focuses on in his film and screenwriting classes at Jenks (Full disclosure: My daughter is attending a Jenks elementary school.)
What stands out more than the fact a public high school offers such classes is the teacher who leads them. Raphael made his name in broadcasting after decades of working across the country. When he ended up in Tulsa, he was sure of a couple things. He didn't want anything to do with television. He didn't like what it had turned into. When his wife mentioned a job opening to teach broadcasting, he wanted no part of it.
But then he decided to pitch an idea to the school. Instead of broadcasting sound bites, what about letting students make documentaries? The school took the chance and Raphael soon realized he was finally doing work that mattered.
"What I am doing at Jenks is the most important thing I have ever done in my life," he told me. His formula for success is simple. The school has supplied incredible resources for his students, everything from the latest editing software to TV cameras the pros use, and Raphael isn't afraid to be blunt about what he thinks of a student's work.
See the results yourself at the JPS Cinema YouTube channel.
