Fox Chapel Area student-led documentary on Fred Rogers airs on YouTube

A student-produced documentary on legendary Pittsburgher Fred Rogers taught Fox Chapel Area senior Jean Daniher to aspire to be better simply by slowing down.

“We all have the opportunity to be as kind and understanding as he was if we just slow down,” said Daniher of O’Hara.

She worked as the producer of the film “Our Assignment from Fred Rogers” now available on the district’s YouTube channel.

Daniher said the project transpired from a small group book study on Maxwell King’s “The Good Neighbor.”

Their work in multimedia teacher Ryan Devlin’s class allowed them to interview key figures from Rogers’ life, including Hedda Sharapan and Margy Whitmer, producers of Rogers’ long-running children’s show, and David Newell, an O’Hara resident who played TV’s Mr. McFeely.

While the meetings taught them first-hand about camera set-up, audio and lighting, it was an offhand comment by Daniher’s dad that really ramped up the experience.

“I was talking to my parents about the project and hoping to get in contact with Mrs. Joanne Rogers,” Daniher said. “It turns out my dad knows her plumber.”

Daniher reached out to Mrs. Rogers who responded the next day with an invitation to her home.

The students who worked on the 70-minute documentary are Daniher, senior Ryan Kenyon, juniors Anushka Vis and Lance Wilhelm, and graduates Adina Munin and Santiago de la Torre.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Jessica Morris also was involved with the production.

Wilhelm, tasked with the significant task of editing the piece, said it was a “wonderful learning opportunity, but it also felt like the messages that we were helping to bring to light were really powerful and remarkably relevant to today.”

He credited Rogers for making a constant effort to be kind and said one of the most inspiring lessons he has taken away from the documentary is the importance of taking time to listen to others and make interactions special.

“The idea that anyone can strive to be the best version of themselves in how they interact with others is one of the more hopeful messages that is touched on in the lessons of Fred Rogers,” Wilhelm said.

The film took more than a year to compile and includes the various interviews, many of which were filmed with the original Neighborhood of Make-Believe set pieces that are displayed at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District.

Daniher said “Our Assignment from Fred Rogers” was inspired by a quote from Rogers that reads: “Try your best to make goodness attractive. That’s one of the toughest assignments you’ll ever be given.”

To view the full project, visit https://youtu.be/0ijzTmatpdM.