A moment later, the camera began recording Simpson as she told stories of taking hay, driving tractor and being snowed in on the family's Graystone Farm. The resulting interview will become part of the National Agricultural Library.

"I'd never operated a video camera before, but now I think I could make a documentary on my own," said Wheeland, a student in the 2004 Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information Technology (PGSIT) and assistant producer of what will become an hour-long DVD.

Wheeland was one of a dozen rising high school seniors who captured some of Centre County's rich agricultural heritage as part of the five-week PGSIT program. Until the program's beginning on June 27, almost none of the students knew the basics of video production or had operated video cameras. But after a week of intensive, hands-on training, they talked like pros about room tone and white balance.

Also on the students' agenda was editing which encompassed everything from adding still photographs and other memorabilia as well as music to the two- to three-hour interviews.

Technical skills were only part of the curriculum. The PGSIT students also had a crash course in farming from their interviewees and from eight participants in the Pennsylvania Governor's School of Agricultural Sciences involved with the project.

And the IT teens learned about a way of life that's fast disappearing from the rural landscape, said Donna Weimer, professor of communication at Juniata College, in charge of the project.

"This project put a human face on what it means to be a family farm in Pennsylvania from the government policies that affect commodity prices to the pressures to sell land for housing and commercial developments," Weimer said.

"Whenever these students drive by a farm again, they will think of it as a unique enterprise operated by some of the hardest working people in the world." Andrew Dotta, a senior-to-be at Northern Lehigh High School, said while he lives by a farm, he knew little of the landowners' daily challenges and hardships until the interviews. Now he appreciates the importance of those enterprises.

"I've seen a lot of developments around my neighborhood," Dotta said. "It will be a shame if all the farms are lost."

Said Wheeland who attends Troy High School, "We captured the stories of these small family farms before they vanish forever."

The Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information Technology ran from June 27 through July 31. Sixty-seven students from across the state participated in this year's programs which included courses taught by faculty members of the Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and community projects such as the Pennsylvania Farm Project. Owners of six Centre County farms were interviewed.