In the late spring of 2020, motivated by cuts to the Alternative Choices in Education (A.C.E.) program at Brookline High School, recent BHS graduate Skye Kim reached out to ACE coordinator Amy Bayer with a plan to produce a documentary that would cement the program in future Brookline School budgets.

The documentary short “The ACE Program: Changing the Trajectory of Student’s Lives” premieres on the program “BrooklineHub in-depth on July 26. This episode also features an interview between the program host and the film’s executive producer, Harvey Bravman, film producer and 2021 BHS and ACE graduate Skye Kim and Amy Bayer.

The ACE Program is a competency-based program at Brookline High School. Using a multi-dimensional approach, the program aids more than 50 students whose demographic makeup is one of the most diverse at BHS.

A.C.E. Program Demographics

African-American and Latinx – 52%

Free or reduced lunch program – 43%

Individualized Education program – 36%

A full-time guidance counselor is essential to the viability of the ACE Program. In 2018, with a full-time guidance counselor, Kara Lopez, 93% of ACE students were accepted to four-year colleges/universities. In September 2019, Lopez was reduced from a full-time A.C.E. guidance counselor to 50% in A.C.E. and 50% in the mainstream. Immediately following this de-funding of the program, the percentage of ACE students that applied to and were accepted by four-year colleges/universities plummeted.

These facts were unacceptable to then BHS Junior, Skye Kim. Kim approached Bayer with the idea of producing a documentary to educate her community about the ACE program for her ACE legacy project. Bayer reached out to Harvey Bravman with the idea of him hiring Skye Kim as an intern for his company, ADW Video Productions.

Kim flourished in her ADW Video Productions role. During the fall semester, Kim and Bravman worked to secure a grant to fund the documentary project. Once the project was funded, Kim worked closely with Bravman and the entire ADW Video Productions team to produce the documentary.

To fulfill her goal, Kim screened her film to her class, friends, and family as part of her legacy project this past May.

“BrooklineHub In-Depth” is produced by Harvey Bravman and Danielle Myers, a producer for ADW Video Productions.

“BrooklineHub In-Depth” can be seen on all Brookline Interactive Group cable channels and the BrooklineHub in-depth YouTube Channel.