More than 3200 students from across the country participated in the 20 Year Anniversary of our studentcam documentary competition. This year we asked, in the next 20 years, what is the most important change would like to see in america, or over the last 20 years, what has been the most important change in america . This month we are featuring the top 21 winning entries. This one comes from Weston High School in weston, connecticut. The winning documentary is called innocence held hostage. I was detained in iran in january, 2018. A connecticut resident was taken hostage when in iran. I have had the privilege and challenge for working tirelessly. I may United States senator, richard blumenthal. A nature conservationist. He is a person of great dignity that was demonstrated in the moments and proven during captivity and iran. In 2018 my wife and one of my children came to iran and upon returning to the United States, i was notified at the airport that i cannot be. Iran was using him as a pawn, a hostage. A western resident was illegally taken hostage by the iranians and spent six years in prison. I represent connecticuts fourth Congressional District and is Ranking Member of the select committee on intelligence i was constantly told once they had all the information they needed, he would be free to go. Instead of saying, so you are free to leave, i was blindfolded, handcuffed, thrown in the back of the car and taken straight to a prison. This prison was one of the hellholes of the world. It was designed for torture, for breaking people. [screaming] it is a lawless regime in iran and anyone perceived as politically problematical problematic was tortured or sometimes executed. He easily could have perished. One of my roles was to make sure the state department, the white house, did not forget about him and the other u. S. Hostages. He was not alone. I kept pressing the state department, the white house, there is an office of Hostage Affairs in the white house. The Biden Administration had been talking with iran for years, constantly raising the issue of these americans, what would it take to bring them home. President biden we will continue to work to bring home every american. We continue working night and day to secure the release of our wrongfully detained citizens. And that continues the u. S. U. K. Citizen rod to pause. My name is michael scheer, i am a White House Correspondent at the new york times. Ultimately the deal was one in which the iranians would release the americans, the americans would release a number of iranian prisoners in the United States and crucially, the iranians had about 6 billion of revenue they had made through the sale of oil that was in a bank account in south korea and for all sorts of currency related reasons they basically could not spend any of it. So the United States did not pay anything, they said if the deal goes through we will allow korea to remit that money. There is an argument that critics of the deal make that say, all money is fungible. Frees another 6 billion for iran to spend. This situation with the hostage and later released as part of a bigger struggle throughout the middle east. The world would be a much safer place if the Iranian Regime were not people. Evil. Relations are not great right now. The only reason they will pull back from the destabilizing activity is pressure. One thing people in the white house and state department understand is when you are making policy for the future, when you are looking at the next 20 years, you have to keep in mind what happened the last 20 years as well. The path is not always a the past is not always a perfect predictor but you have to learn from it and understand iran is a perfect example of their behavior has been part of a pattern and will likely continue to be part of a pattern going forward. It is evident in the next 20 years the u. S. Must make more policy that places heavy restrictions on all americans traveling to iran because not only would we see less hostage taking but the u. S. Will no longer have to participate in the considerable negotiations with iran. To watch this and all winning entries, visit studentcam. Org. The house will be in order. This year cspan celebrates 45 years of covering Congress Like no other. Since 1979 we have been your primary source for capitol hill, providing balanced unfiltered coverage of government. We take you to where policies are debated and decided with the support of american cable companies. At cspan. 45 years and counting. Powered by cable. Reporter danny casolaro