While many 14-year-olds were spending their summer days at the mall or hanging with friends, Sydney was poring through historical documents and filming footage for her first documentary. Sydney, now 16, spent her 2010 vacation in North Carolina, where her family has roots, working on what would become Elvira's Eyes. The 25-minute film is about Sydney's great-great-great-grandmother, Elvira Sophia Abernathy, who spent her first 28 years of life as a slave. "People like [Elvira] had to persevere through slavery. I'm proud of their strength," Sydney says. And she's sharing the knowledge, having donated her film to Richmond's Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia.