Montgomery County Public Schools has many contests throughout the year, ranging from short films to art shows. One of these contests is the MCPS “Speak Up, Save a Life” video contest, which recently completed its voting period, which ran from November 18th to December 6th.
The MCPS “Speak Up, Save a Life” video contest happens every year and challenges teens to create an original video to promote awareness of the dangers of opioid abuse or overdose and fentanyl among teens. The contest is open for students in grades 6-12 in MCPS. Many of the health classes at Paint Branch require students to create a PSA as an assignment, which they can then choose to submit to the contest if they wish because they earn 10 SSL hours just for submitting.
According to PB Health Teacher Mrs. Chivers, “our health classes have participated in this PSA contest as a way for students to learn and then advocate against the devastating effects of opioids including fentanyl. The drug landscape has changed drastically these days; Fentanyl is laced in many of the illegal drugs that kids get their hands on and is a huge killer. Our students at Paint Branch have made very powerful and creative PSA’s to teach others and potentially save lives.”
The contest was advertised at the end of September and the submission deadline for entries was November 11th. Submissions have to be from 50-70 seconds and can cover the impact of peer pressure or mental health issues, bystander intervention,, or statistics or factual information about opioids, drug abuse, overdose, accidental overdose and/or fentanyl. According to the Montgomery County Volunteer Center, the videos have to be well thought out and showcase careful planning and insight on the material presented. They also must be free of any copyrighted material.
Last year’s winners were Jabea Ewane, Steven Santiago, and Thomas Pettit. The three walked away with a 1st place prize of $1,000 for their video titled “Forever 16” that showed a student trying the drug Molly – an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor psychedelic properties – and passing away. The video then shows facts on teen overdose rates. Second place winner Elessar Issenberg walked away with $750, and third place winner Jasper Chen won $500. An exciting addition to last year’s voting was that people could also vote for a “fan favorite” to win $500.
This year’s submissions are all impressive, so it may have been a difficult choice for student-voters. Students were able to choose from five videos, which were titled: “You Have One Life, not Nine”, “You Are Not a Burden”, “Protect A Friend”, “Just Some Pills, Right?”, and “The 2mg Killer”. All of the prizes have increased this year with first place now being $4,000, second place $2,000, and both third place and fan favorite are $750.
