The Wenatchee School District, Children’s Home Society of Wenatchee, and Wenatchee Learns are hosting a community screening event of the documentary, Who Cares About Kelsey? Tuesday, March 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Performing Arts Center of Wenatchee.

The purpose of this screening is to inform the public about emotional and behavioral problems that are taking over the lives of teens today.

“Nationally, more than two million young people in the United States have emotional/behavioral disabilities (EBD). Youth with EBD have the worst graduation rate of all students with disabilities,” according to the Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. This statistic has caused many citizens, and businesses, of our community to take up the initiative of raising the funds for this screening. More than 15 local businesses are supporting the documentary and will have information exhibits regarding their individual contribution and what their business hopes the public will take away from this life altering film.

The movie, directed by Dan Habib, the Emmy-nominated director/producer of Including Samuel, which was broadcasted nationally on public television, is about a girl who struggles with EBD and is constantly battered by the struggles through high school life. She finds renewal however through a program implemented at Kelsey’s high school called RENEW. This program is an intervention method used in conjunction with Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports, otherwise known as PBIS.

The film is aimed to help improve graduation rates and create a safer atmosphere and environment for any person struggling with emotional or behavioral problems.

“Once I heard that this showing was taking place in Wenatchee and they needed help I said WestSide is in… this movie definitely holds more importance than any reality TV show today,” said Kory Kalahar, principal of WestSide High School.

WestSide is fully backing this screening and hosted the professional pre-screening of the film in order to help get businesses to participate. Kalahar will be playing a special role of emcee for the event and being part of the four-member post discussion panel after the screening takes place.

School Board member Jennifer Talbot also shed some light on the matter saying that, “Being aware and involved is important if our community is concerned about increasing high school graduation rates, creating positive and safe school learning environments, and working on prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth.”

With the screening taking place March 4, everyone is encouraged to come and learn from a great film what problems students face today and solutions to fixing them.