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John Prusak Educator Grant Recipients Announced for ’25-’26

By on February 11, 2026 in DAFT News

2025-2026 John Prusak Educator Grant Recipients Announced


 

Honoring the memory of DAFT’s own John Prusak a fund was established through generous donations from his many friends, family and former students who hope that the generosity of these donors will support K-12 media educators and their programs in the same spirit that John supported so many teachers and classrooms.

  • Bedford High School: Tara Byczinski-Davis:

      • Using 360 cameras, mobile mounts for studio cameras, and gimbals for portable devices, students will produce videos and podcasts that can be shared on YouTube and displayed on hallway monitors. This hands-on experience develops technical skills, creative storytelling, collaboration, and real-world problem-solving, while opportunities to earn credentials like Adobe certifications ensure measurable student growth.


    • Everett High School (Lansing): Jason Kaye: This grant will fund two projects:

        • Vodcast with Kenya & Sweden: This portion of the grant will pay for an annual subscription to Riverside.fm, which Everett High School will to use to record and edit a video podcast. It’s a cross-continental creative content collaboration with students from Kenya and Sweden and is designed to offer a forum to learn about different cultures, and promote the power and diversity of youth media. This should especially significant since some of Mr. Kaye’s students speak Swahili.


        • Community Engagement Event Production: An immersive, participatory community engagement experience is being planned which will offer a chance to showcase youth media production and activism. In addition to screening a short documentary (produced by students involved in PBS's SRL program), the event will feature a community discussion on gun violence, including various non-profit organizations from our surrounding communities. Grant money will help fund stipends for adult drum circle/art therapy facilitators and student-mentor drum leaders


        • Mr. Kaye: “We sincerely appreciate your past support, and we are committed to producing high quality student-produced content that honors the legacy of John (and his mission of educating, empowering, and bringing people together through media arts).”


    • NorthPointe Christian High School (Grand Rapids):  Jon Den Houter:

        • NorthPointe’s after-school club has grown significantly and this year Mr. Den Houter has begun an Intro to Video class that has both a short film and broadcasting component. The grant will purchase professional lighting equipment lights and converting an existing wall and the purchase of a zoom lens for our Blackmagic camera we were able to purchase with a previous Prusak grant.


        • Mr. Den Houter: “NorthPointe’s involvement with DAFT continues to grow receiving an "Excellence" rating when we first entered the narrative competition three years ago, then two "Best in Show" ratings for the last two years!”


    • Rochester High School: Chris Guyor:

        • With funding limitations for new or refurbishing itemst, Mr. Guyor will be using Prusak grant funding to purchase a new camera for Rochester High School’s film club. The cameras currently available are limited handycams that are better for home movies than quality filmmaking.


        • Mr. Guyor:  “Our Film Club looks forward to producing for first time entries for April’s 58th Michigan Student Film Festival.”


    • Trillium Academy (Taylor): Michael Chrusciel:

        • Trillium Academy will be using the Prusak grant to enable field trips that transport students beyond the classroom and into cinema—both at our local theater in Taylor and at Detroit’s historic cinemas—for curated field trips centered on international and foreign-language films and will immerse students in diverse stories, styles, and voices from across the world–moving beyond simply entertainment, to a greater empathy and cross-cultural understanding.

 

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