In five minutes, a group of middle school students tackle challenges that have plagued the Baltimore city school system for decades: large class sizes, bullies, strained relationships between teachers and students, and inequities in school resources.

On Thursday, students who are taking part in this semester's Wide Angle Youth Media after-school program will host a screening of their film, "Better Schools. Better Futures: Baltimore Students Speak Out for a Better Education," where they hope to share their experiences with city school officials and community members.

The screening will be held at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, located at 1303 Orleans Street, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The students will also host a discussion about the film after the viewing.

Students immediately confront viewers with their mission and purpose in the first minute of the film: "We think that public schools needs to change because we don't feel like everyone who goes to school in Baltimore city is getting a good education. We are being honest and telling you what we really think so that you can help us to create the kinds of schools where kids can really learn."

From there, different voices join the chorus of critiques from the middle schoolers, representing schools from across the city, who sound off on the system's challenges, what their perfect school would look like, and what they need from their schools to be successful. They offer these suggestions to teachers, administrators, and their fellow peers.

"The amount of people in the class," is what one student identified as a challenge.

"I need my school to be clean," says another.

Another student shares that in their perfect school, "teachers would care about their students like their own children," and not act like they want to get paid.

Originally, students planned to focus their production on identity and what makes them happy, and from those discussions emerged a strong theme about the role of the school system in their lives, said to Sarah Milinski, the middle school lead teacher and program coordinator for Wide Angle Youth.

Wide Angle Youth Media is a non-profit that aims to provide Baltimore's youth with tools to express themselves through video technology  and public speaking. The organization hosts after school programs, community events and a youth-run television show. The students are participating in a 12-week-program, and devoted about 8 weeks to production.

"At the beginning, the kids kept writing and talking about the school system," Milinksi said. "We try to base our productions on what's relevant in their loves at the time, and there was this overwhelming sense that the schools aren't giving them what they needed."