Popular Prospect High School world religion class subject of new documentary

A new documentary film follows students at Prospect High School on their journey through John Camardella’s popular world religions class.

The 86-minute film, titled “All of the Above,” was directed by Prospect alum Allison Walsh, who took the course as a student and came away inspired.

She wasn’t alone.

“There's a wait list every year of students who want to be part of it,” she said.

The course made a huge impact on Walsh, who knew religion only through the lens of her Christian faith. She said the class opened up her mind to the world and showed the diversity of faith.

Camardella has taught the class since 2009. It grew, he said, out of a 2006 interfaith peace conference in Bali, Indonesia, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“I studied under him for eight days,” he said. “There were about 500 or so people from different countries and a wide variety of religious traditions.”

All were focused on how people could learn to live peacefully with their deepest differences.

Since then, Camardella has earned two master’s degrees from St. Xavier University and a third master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School. His course is now the first dual-credit public high school religious studies course in the U.S., offered in partnership with Eastern Illinois University. Students earn three transferable undergraduate credits.

The film is well on its way through the film festival circuit, having played at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and it recently grabbed best emerging documentary honors at the Milwaukee Film Festival.

The narration-free documentary provides the viewer with an immersive experience.

“You get to feel like you’re a student in the class,” Walsh said.

It also went beyond the classroom, capturing students at home, eating dinner with their parents and discussing what they were learning.

Camardella said the class is technology free — at no point, he said, do students stare at a screen.

“They are having conversations in small groups. They’re reflecting and writing, they’re reading and annotating.”

Camardella said acceptance is not the course’s goal — he is trying to help students learn to understand different cultures and belief systems.

The filming process was a concern at first, he admits.

“I didn't know how the students were going to react to having boom mics and multiple cameras in the room while we're talking about really personal topics,” but added the students adapted quickly. Some who have seen it have said it is like looking at a time capsule, providing a meaningful memory, Walsh said.

For more information about the film, visit alloftheabovedoc.com.