A group of high school TV production students are hoping a class assignment turns into something big.

The students at Palmetto High School recently finished up a documentary highlighting the history of coastal Tampa Bay.

“It was fun to go out to the parks and see stuff,” senior Summer Snyder said. “On Egmont Key, there was actually a graveyard.  It was cool to see that stuff.”

Snyder and her classmates just finished putting together a documentary called "Egmont Passage: The Facts Behind the Fiction." The documentary is based on a book their teacher, Nino Fabiano, wrote a few years ago.

“The reason I wrote the book is because I think sometimes we don’t know our local history,” said Fabiano. “In order to know our history, you have to study it. So I wrote an adventure novel based on our local history of local Tampa Bay.”

The book, “Tale of the Seventh Mystery,” is based on fictional characters who time-travel through Florida’s past. Fabiano was inspired to turn it into a class project.

The documentary highlights the area’s local history and journeys to areas such as pre-historic Florida, the Spanish Exploration, the Civil War and Egmont Key’s history.

“I’ve lived in Florida my whole life and I’ve never been to Egmont Key or Fort Desoto,” junior Austin O’Reilly said. “It was extremely amazing.”

The class spent hours of their personal time on the project, including weekends. They had to travel to several spots around the area to tell their story. They went to Desoto Memorial Park, Fort De Soto in St. Petersburg, a pirate ship in Madeira Beach, and Egmont Key.

It’s a time-consuming project they’re ready to show off.

“It’s cool to see my camera shots and it’s cool to think I did that and I contributed to something,” junior Jacob Gwynn said.

The students’ teacher said he’s very proud of them for working so hard.

“I think it’s one of the best projects we’ve done,” said Fabiano.  “I’m really proud of the work they did.”

The crew plans to enter the documentary in the 2015 Sarasota Film Festival next Spring. They are now selling copies of the documentary.

All proceeds will be donated to the PHS TV Club and help with their next documentary.

For more information, or to purchase a copy of the documentary, contact the PHS-TV department at 941-723-4848, ext. 2184.