Overview

Filmmakers Lindsey Seavert and Ben Garvin follow the students, families and educators of Lucy Laney Elementary School in North Minneapolis. An insightful portrait of youth education in Minnesota, Love Them First: Lessons From Lucy Laney Elementary, provides an inside look into early childhood development, the school's infrastructure and the current needs of the community. The film puts the focus on the school's reality–over ninety-one percent of Lucy Laney's students are growing up under the poverty line, and the school has been flagged as failing to meet state and federal education bars. Enter Mauri Friestleben, the school's principal. Determined to see the students of Lucy Laney succeed, Freistleben and supporting staff decide to try a new approach as the school heads into a new year. The film was developed from a series of news stories with unprecedented access over the course of a year by KARE 11 reporter Lindsey Seavert and photojournalist Ben Garvin.