The National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators in Washington, D.C., is the latest group to hire students in the Media Arts in the Public Schools program, but the first outside of Montana. The high school and middle school classes are taught by Rosten, a former television and movie producer who retired to the Bitterroot Valley after a 30-year Hollywood career.

NASFAA, a nonprofit group promoting financial aid opportunities, hired the students to write and produce two 30-second television ads and two 30-second radio ads that will air nationally, Rosten said.

Filming will begin in June, with the first TV spot expected to run in August. The group is paying "in the high five figures" for the students' work, Rosten said.

"It's easily the most we've ever received," he said.

The ads will be shot for free by Flathead Valley resident Martin Schaer, a MAPS advisory board member and cameraman whose work includes "Enemy of the State" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

Students around the country also will be hired to take photographs of themselves, their parents or their friends in front of distinctive landmarks for the campaign. The photos will be used as background in the commercials, Rosten said.

Student actors from around Montana will be cast for the spots, he said.

Students in MAPS learn to write, direct, produce, cast and film movies and music videos. The classes will be expanded in September to five Boys and Girls Clubs around the state, with plans for further expansion next year.

A bill seeking state funding to expand the program to other schools was tabled by the House Education Committee last month.

Students earn money and scholarships for working on films, commercials and other class projects. The money from NASFAA goes to the Florence Prevor Rosten Foundation, which is named for Rosten's mother and finances MAPS.

MAPS students have also produced ads for the Student Assistance Foundation, Marcus Daly Hospital and Ravalli County DUI Task Force.