Three Shorewood Intermediate School seventh grade students-- Symone Jeter, Kennedy Merkel, and Henry Zitoun—were recently announced as top 10 finalists in the World of 7 Billion video contest for their video submissions, which were facilitated through the SIS world geography classes.
Furthermore, Henry Zitoun was awarded a first place prize ($600) in the Re-Imagining Industrial Systems category and Kennedy Merkel was awarded a second place prize ($300) in the Strengthening Global Health category. Both of these students will have the opportunity to have their work examined and promoted by experts in the field who judged the student videos. Their videos will be also featured on the Population Education website and social media platforms.
View the video from each SIS finalist below:
erkel - Amping Up Testing
The World of 7 Billion video contest is an international competition open to students globally in middle and high school. It provides students with the opportunity to study how population growth and changes impact people and the environment.
Students were tasked with creating a short video – up to 60 seconds – about human population growth that highlights one of the following global challenges: Promoting Environmental Justice, Strengthening Global Health, Re-Imagining Industrial Systems. All videos had to include how population growth impacts the issue and at least one idea for a sustainable solution. The participants were encouraged to narrow their focus by concentrating on a subtheme within their topic. Possible subthemes in each category included:
- Promoting Environmental Justice –Food deserts, climate migrants, placement of hazardous waste sites, effects of the fossil fuel industry, redlining, mistreatment of indigenous peoples and land, environmental racism
- Strengthening Global Health –Access to health care, pandemics and emergency response, disease spread (zoonotic and vector-borne), maternal health, sanitation, health effects of environmental pollution
- Re-Imagining Industrial Systems –Procurement of raw materials, waste management, brownfields/CAFOs, energy production, production/distribution of consumer goods, occupational health and safety
The three SIS finalists will now advance for a chance to be a prize winner in their respective categories. Judging will be based on the content quality, how memorable/creative the video is, how appropriate and logical the solution offered is, and the overall production quality. Prize winners from each category will be announced on Tuesday, May 4.
For more information on the World of 7 Billion video contest, visit: https://www.worldof7billion.org/student-video-contest/