South Forsyth Senior Wins First In International Video Contest

CUMMING, GA — A local student from South Forsyth High School beat out more than 5,500 students from 43 countries recently to win an international video contest.

Jade Christman, of Cumming, won first place in the eighth annual “World of 7 Billion” video contest sponsored by Population Connection for her video, “Women of Action."

Christman's AP Environmental Science teacher, Christine Lauer, assigned the video contest as a class project. Christman was inspired by the good reception her video received from her classmates, so she decided to submit her video to the contest.

She decided to focus on protecting human rights because she feels it is a very relevant issue in today’s world and basic human rights for all should be first step in bettering our world.

“I learned a lot during my research on the subject of women rights in developing countries in relation towards population growth, and heartily believe that students do benefit from partaking in the contest," Christman said.

This was her first foray into the world of film making. She said the most challenging part of the process was editing because it required a lot of cutting and clipping to get her visuals to sync up to her script.

“I barely got it all down to 60 seconds, and when I did, I let out a sigh of relief,” Christman said.

This isn't the first award for Christman, who won a silver key for projects in science, and first place recognition for language proficiency in a poetry contest. Her advice for future contest participants is to be original. She stuck to the basics and made the video her own.

Christman is a member of several volunteering clubs to help give back to her community, such as Key Club, National Honors Society and National Beta Club. She will be attending Georgia State University Honors College this fall where she hopes to pursue a career in biomedicine or neuroscience.

In total, 18 winners earned top spots in contest. Over 5,500 students in grades 6 through 12 from 43 countries and 47 U.S. states and territories participated in the competition. The videos explored population growth as it relates to one of three challenges: Preserving Biodiversity, Sustainable Resource Use, and Protecting Human Rights.

The three high school first place winners each received a $1,000 cash prize, while the three second place winners each received $500 and six honorable mentions each received $250. Middle school students who claimed first and second place received $500 and $250, respectively. Winning students hail from the U.S., Singapore, Thailand, India and South Korea.

In addition to educating viewers about their chosen topic and how it relates to human population growth, students had to include at least one idea for a sustainable solution.

The winning pieces were on topics as varied as pollinators, single-use plastics, conflict minerals and gender discrimination.

“The students’ ability to take complex challenges and create such thoughtful, creative, one minute videos is truly impressive,” John Seager, president of Population Connection, said in a release.

The contest was organized and promoted during the 2018-19 school year by Population Education, a program of Population Connection; submissions were due February 28. A panel of 48 judges—including college and high school educators, filmmakers and topic experts—selected the winners.

“Most students find out about the contest through their teachers, many of whom use it as a vehicle to teach about environmental and social issues, and build students’ academic skills in research, writing and persuasive communication,” Pam Wasserman, Population Connection’s Senior Vice President for Education, said.

Full list of winners:

• 1st Place in Preserving Biodiversity (Middle School): Ruby Ha of Teaneck, NJ for “In Your Backyard”
• 2nd Place in Preserving Biodiversity (Middle School): Sydney Hopkin of Virginia Beach, VA for “The Ugly Truth About Receipts”
• 1st Place in Sustainable Resource Use (Middle School): Honor Dodd of Los Angeles, CA for “Switch to Rechargeable”
• 2nd Place in Sustainable Resource Use (Middle School): Winne Ye of Whitestone, NY for “ Abuse to Re-use”
• 1st Place in Protecting Human Rights (Middle School): Eleanor Bennett, Lucy Benavides and Noa Biener of Shorewood, WI for “Coltan: A Conflict Mineral”
• 2nd Place in Protecting Human Rights (Middle School): Vedika Amin of Mumbai, India for “Compassion and Integration Can Solve the Refugee Crisis”
• 1st Place in Preserving Biodiversity (High School): Ethan Xiong of Singapore for “Preserve Our Priceless Pollinators”
• 2nd Place in Preserving Biodiversity (High School): Ali Ransom of Poolesville, MD for “Pollinators and the Human Population”
• 1st Place in Sustainable Resource Use (High School): Pitt Pongpittayapa (Lead Producer) and Kritin Vongthongsri of Thailand for “A Nanofuture”
• 2nd Place in Sustainable Resource Use (High School): Ethan Xiong of Singapore, for “Smart and Sustainable Fishing”
• 1st Place in Protecting Human Rights (High School): Jade Christman of Cumming, GA for “Women of Action”
• 2nd Place in Protecting Human Rights (High School): Lucy Baretto of Oakland, CA for “Barriers to Education: Menstrual Health”