During her junior year at Federal Way High School, Paige Edmiston wrote an essay about true patriotism and a new kind of superhero. She submitted the essay to a national high school essay competition and won.

When she graduated from Federal Way High School in 2009, she moved on to the University of Washington, but continued to think about the words she had written.

“There are superheroes all around us who embody the qualities that any member of the DC Comics’ Justice League needs. They desire to help others first, make right what has plainly gone wrong, protect those who cannot protect themselves and even save the world,” Edmiston wrote in her essay, titled “What True Patriotism Means to Me: A New Breed of Superhero for the 21st Century.”

Edmiston knew her essay lent itself to the spoken word nicely, and she and her father — a screenwriter — had often talked about taking on a project together.

When the levy to fund remodeling of Federal Way High School made it onto the ballot in 2012, they were ready to seize the opportunity.

“I was just so inspired,” Edmiston said.

Students who were too young to vote and who would graduate long before the remodeling would be finished, stepped up to push voters to pass the levy. When Edmiston heard about these students, she decided to mix her essay as spoken word with some documentary footage of the students, she said. The end result was a 22-minute film called “Reinventing the Patriot.”

Edmiston also founded The Sidekick Collective, an organization that works to recognize and empower students who prove that they are working to make a difference.

The collective uses Edmiston’s film as an engine to inspire students and encourage educators to nominate students for recognition.

In March of 2013, Edmiston and her team began filming students at Federal Way High school. By mid-2014 the film was ready for its first screening at the school.

In October, the Gig Harbor Film Festival hosted the film’s world premier showing. Though the film is only 22 minutes, it was given an hour time slot, allowing for a panel of educators to answer questions and generate discussion on cultivating change-making students.

The collective is now working on putting together more screenings in Federal Way, both at the high school and home screenings.

“It has given me a sense of purpose and reason,” Edmiston said.

The collective and the film gave her 2008 essay a second life, and she is using that opportunity to help others. As students are nominated to the collective, Edmiston said it is humbling to see the kinds of things other students are doing to make the world a better place.

“It’s a reminder that we can all do more,” she said.

Secret nominators give student names to the collective and its League of Extraordinary Advisers, who select one student to recognize as a “cosmic hero” every spring. The student receives a grant to help continue the student’s work.

“We’re a little like Professor X,” Edmiston said.

For more information on The Sidekick Collective, to watch the trailer for “Reinventing the Patriot” or to schedule a screening, visit www.sidekickcollective.com.