Sam Kretchmar and Ken Potts, 2004 alumni, recently traveled to Guatemala to make a short film for Proctor and Gamble, which will be aired as a commercial for the company.

Allen Methven DDS, a local Delphi parent, was part of a group of dentists from the Rotary Club of Newberg, Oregon, that organized a trip to the small village of El Hato, Guatemala to help train villagers on oral hygiene. Proctor and Gamble donated tooth brushes and toothpaste to the dentists.

Sam worked with Leo Burnett, the advertising agency representing Proctor and Gamble, to film a commercial that documented their donation. Ken came along as his sound engineer. Together, they filmed more than thirteen hours of footage of the dentists and the children of the village. Sam then edited the footage into a short documentary film, which was shown to executives from Proctor and Gamble, who decided to have Sam edit a version of the film to show on TV as a commercial.

The final commercial, which will end up costing less than $6,000 to produce, will be entered into awards shows in the "Under $10,000" category. It has also inspired a new campaign that Proctor and Gamble will use called "Small Gifts," a name which came from the words in Sam's film. This campaign will include more student films around the world with a similar style and theme.

Sam Kretchmar filming children in El Hato, Guatemala As a senior at Delphi, Sam helped raise money to establish the school's audio/visual lab and worked on many video projects, including promotional videos for the school. "Making this film started out as an opportunity for me to get experience and try my hand in the professional world," said Sam. "Once we got to El Hato, however, the focus changed to the amazing story of the local people. I simply tried to represent their inspiring story."

Ken also worked on audio/visual projects at the school. "My education at Delphi prepared me for this in many ways," said Ken. "The skills I learned in sound engineering from projects I did were invaluable."