Charter Teacher of the Year animates
students across the city
Koepenick launched teaching career as
background for script
BY JOSH MARKS
Brad Koepenick’s enthusiasm is contagious. Since he became the
film and drama teacher at
“I had to get a case
because Brad and his students won so many awards,” says Principal Edward
Vandenberg about the impact Koepenick, who was
recently honored as the California Charter School Teacher of the Year, has made
on his seventh graders at the small Title I school in
The road to Teacher
of the Year began, appropriately, with a film script about a teacher. Koepenick, who is also a professional actor and writer, had
pitched the script one night to his friend and fellow
“I realized I hadn’t
really worked enough in the urban environment as a full-time teacher to really
have all the back story,” explains the 45-year-old
Valley native. “So I’ll teach for a year; maybe I’ll get something out of it.” Koepenick, who is married with two boys of his own, ended
up falling in love with the kids and with teaching. “It sort of formalized my
plans right now to stick with the Charters for a while,” he says. “As a
teacher, you’re able to think outside of the box…less is more…and you receive
complete and utter support from parents and administration.”
In 2003, Koepenick and his students propelled Lakeview into the
national spotlight with a video called “Our School Rocks,” which won the
National Charter Schools Week Video Contest. U.S. Secretary of Education Rod
Paige announced the award live via telecast from
“Brad inspires,
captivates, motivates and turns kids on in a way that is magical,” says
Jacqueline Elliot, founder and co-CEO of PUC (Partnership to Uplift
Communities) schools. “He can turn even the shyest child into a demonstrative,
expressive actor.”
Elliot nominated Koepenick for the California Teacher of the Year Award for
his work at Lakeview, which is one of six PUC schools in the greater
On top of his work
as a film and drama teacher, Koepenick also teaches
filmmaking at a movie camp for autistic kids
called Actors for Autism, which is based in Tarzana. He also
works out of his Noho
Studio offices, offering animation
classes and camps throughout
Koepenick took up this pursuit about 15 years ago, when he began teaching
stop-motion animation and claymation.
He discovered consumer cameras that came equipped with an animation function,
and used this tool to start a summer camp program.
A few years back, he
was approached by Walter Josten and Jeff Geoffray of Blue Rider Pictures (Holes), and together they
opened a digital film and acting school for kids and teens called The
Entertainment Experience. Koepenick later partnered
with Joey Travolta (John Travolta’s older brother)
through The Entertainment Experience, and they helped start Actors for Autism.
“I’ve seen Brad
develop a creative forum for which children with autism can develop their
talents in animation,” says Actors for Autism executive director Alisa Wolf.
A new animation tool
on the market, called Xipster, has helped Koepenick fully realize his goal of turning kids on to
animation and changing their lives in the process. He was reading an article in
Variety last year about a new software being used on
Warner Bros. “Kids WB!” channel as part of an animation contest based on their
“Mucha Lucha” cartoon show,
when a lucky connection fell into his lap.
“The first day of my
camp, the same day I read the article, a student walks in and says, ‘I’ve done
stop-motion.’ I said, ‘where do you do that?’ He said, ‘my daddy owns Xipster,’” explains Koepenick,
who is now the director of education for XOW Animation, the company that
produces Xipster (XOW now has a deal with Steve
Pearlman’s Class Four Productions at Warner Bros. to produce a primetime live
action/animation series).
Koepenick says this is the tool he has been waiting 20 years for, and now
he’s seeing the results – especially with the autistic children.
“I had one child
walk in last week bouncing off the walls – literally – and I thought there’s no
way I’m going to be able to do anything. Two hours later he was completely
engaged and focused. He knew exactly what he was doing and was able to tell a
visual story using wide shots and medium shots and close ups in chronological
order and he was running the camera himself,” says Koepenick.
“Even for me, who’s been doing it with thousands and thousands of kids, it was
like, ‘wow!’”
Koepenick’s work with autistic
children caught the attention of friend and documentary filmmaker Alex Rotaru. A few weeks ago, they shot Far From Normal, which chronicles
one week in the lives of the autistic kids at his movie camp. Several networks
are looking at the film for potential broadcast.
“When he mentioned
the animation film camp for autistic children, I felt that I’d found a topic of
national interest,” Rotaru explains.
“Brad is the ideal
individual to showcase the educational approach he and Actors for Autism spearhead.
He’s incredibly energetic and engaging, articulate and passionate.”
The testimonials of Koepenick’s former students offer insight into the impact
he has had on their lives. Jake and Sam Strick, whose
father is
“He gave me confidence
to pursue the things that interested me,” says Jake. “The spark of creativity
which fuels our content was ignited many years ago by Brad Koepenick.”
The passion that
drives Koepenick is simply defined by his love of
teaching. “It’s got to be me working with kids six days a week or I go crazy,”
he enthusiastically states. “The combination of what I do—stop motion
animation, analyzing and interpreting the cultural traditions of hip hop, media
literacy, Viola Spolin theater games, understanding
autism— that’s it for the rest of my life.”
For further information, go to www.kidsmakeflix.com or email
Brad Koepenick at [email protected]