How high school and college students view climate change shine through clearly in new video productions submitted in a contest organized by the University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.
The school is a unit within the UW College of the Environment. This is the second year for the contest, supported by the Denman Endowment for Student Excellence in Forest Resources.
Contest rules describe climate change as an issue that unites all the research interests within the school, topics that include sustainable forest management, biofuels, wildlife conservation, landscape ecology and plant microbiology.
“Much of the responsibility for finding sustainable solutions will fall on the younger generations,” the rules state. “That’s what inspired us to host this video competition — to spread awareness and hear your voices on the issue.”
The first video on this page is the 2016 first-place winner in the high school division. The second video is the 2016 first-place winner in the college division. The third video is last year’s first-place winner in the high school division.
Judging was conducted by a panel of climate scientists, artists and filmmakers. First-place winners received $5,000; second-place, $1,000; and third-place, $500.
Here are this year’s winning videos, with links to the top three in each division:
High school students, 2016
First Place: Yuna Shin, Henry M. Jackson High School, Bothell.
Second Place: Suraj Buddhavarapu, Naveen Sahi, Allison Tran and Vibha Vadlamani, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond.
Third Place: Luke Brodersen, Shorewood High School, Shoreline.
Other finalists: Julci Areza, Chloe Birney and Tanaya Sardesai, Redmond High School in Redmond, and Aria Ching, Jesselynn Noland, Emily Riley and Emily Weaver, Lynnwood High School in Bothell.
College undergraduates, 2016
First Place: Audrey Seda and Tommy Tang, Eastern Washington University and University of Washington – Bothell.
Second Place: Ben Jensen, Charles Johnson and Anthony Whitfield, University of Washington.
Third Place: Aaron Hecker, University of Washington.
Other finalists: Kennedy McGahan, Gonzaga University, and Malea Saul, Madeline Savage and Bethany Shepler, University of Washington.
Here are the top winners from last year, with links:
High school students, 2015
First Place: Leo Pfeifer and Meagen Tajalle, Ballard High School, Seattle.
Second Place: Teri Guo, Caeli MacLennan, Kevin Nakahara, Ethan Perrin and Nivida Thomas, Tesla STEM High School, Redmond.
College undergraduates, 2015
First Place: Michael Moynihan and Sarra Tekola, University of Washington.
Second Place: Erfan Dastournejad, Shoreline Community College, Shoreline.
