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Try Harder! | Independent Lens

Graduating seniors at Lowell High School in San Francisco, CA.
Lou Nakasako

Mon. May 2 at 10 p.m. on WKAR-HD 23.1 & STREAMING | At San Francisco’s academic pressure cooker Lowell High School, stressed-out seniors chase college dreams.

At Lowell High School, San Francisco’s academic pressure cooker, the kids are stressed out. With a majority Asian American student body, high-achieving seniors share their dreams and anxieties about getting into a top university. But is college worth the grind?

With humor and heart, director Debbie Lum takes us to the reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity as experienced by high school seniors living through it. Try Harder! is a portrait of young adults in the most diverse American generation ever as they navigate a quintessential rite of passage and make it their own.

Watch this documentary at video.wkar.org during or after the premiere date.

MORE ABOUT INDEPENDENT LENS:
Independent Lens is America’s home for independent documentary film, airing Monday nights on PBS member stations and available to stream on the PBS Video App.

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