The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station hosted the public-service announcement “No Place for Hate” award ceremony for the William S. Hart Union High School District’s junior high and high schools on Tuesday afternoon.
Sheriff’s Capt. Brandon Barclay and Tara Brown, the Hart district’s assistant superintendent of student services, hosted the event together, passing out awards to students and advisors alike for their work on the projects.
“Today we celebrate the creativity, courage and powerful messages of our junior high and high school students who have taken on the important task of reminding us that every single person deserves to feel safe, respected and included,” said Brown. “Hate, discrimination and bullying have no place in our schools or in our communities. And each of us has a responsibility to stand up for kindness, acceptance and compassion. Our students have shown us that even a short video can make a very lasting impact and inspire very meaningful change.”
The project was to create a one- to three-minute public service announcement video that addressed the importance of community as well as the effects of bullying, discrimination and prejudice.
The prize for first place was $500 and second and third place received $250 each for their respective programs.
Jr. High School Winners
First place: Sierra Vista Junior High.
Film: “The Kid Who Hated School.”
Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z7JOmuB1vs (starts at 3:53 ends at 5:54).
Created by: David Dominguez, Michael Uzzell, Sadaf Wardak and Zaineb Zinelabidine.
Advisor: Margaret Aston.
Principal: Ilona Anerson.
Second place: Placerita Junior High School.
Film: “No Place for Hate.”
Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTZOXI81qQ.
Created by: Carson Berry, Cody Killeen, Connor Miles, Hailey Carothers and Ethan Rosburough.
Advisor: Paul Kass.
Principal: Kyra Madsen.
Third place: Rio Norte Jr. High School.
Film: “I’m Fine — The Side You Don’t See.”
Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KocqaWP2SBQ.
Created by: Leo Tapia, Zayaan Mehdi, Emerson Wilder, Hudson Montenegro, Maylee Givens, Kenly Carver, Kayla Haines, Kushal Wannakuwatte, Vihaan Samudrala, Anton Sims, Paige Kneeland and Addi Davis.
Advisor(s): Ron Ippolito and Jase St. Peter.
Principal: Brenda Bennett.
“The process was very interesting. It was a lot more difficult than we all suspected,” said Ethan Rosburough, a student from Placerita Junior High and a team member of the second-place winning team. “It was very fun. At the end of the day, I think we all took away a lot we could learn from it.”
High School Winners
First place: Golden Valley High School.
Film: “No Place for Hate.”
Online: www.facebook.com/reel/1716454693820272.
Created by: Students Isis Huntley, Bodhi del Rosario, Dylan Schick, Agustin Salinas, Joel Oseas, Matis Wedge, Raymond Mendoza, Hope Avila, Natalia Rosales, Madison Miller, Alexander Gonzales Moreno, Jacob Vera, Francisco Melero and Savanna Bustos.
Advisor: Anthony Cook.
Principal: Jennifer Ambrose.
Second place: West Ranch High School.
Film: “The Lineup.”
Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2BJKdJHsVY.
Created by: Michael Hong, Arjun Sundaravadivelan, Mason LaFrance and Liam Bermudez.
Advisor: Ryan Lindgreen.
Principal: Robert Fisher.
Third place: Valencia High School.
Film: “Sticks and Stones.”
Online: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cieez4253A.
Created by: Mason Wolf-Emma, Noah Martinez, Uly Medina Gonzalez and Jonah Mikhail.
Advisor: Dena de Vera.
Principal: Kullen Welch.
“My goal was, honestly, I’m like a first time being a director. So my goal was to like, make it as good as I possibly can, like without the experience that I had,” said Isis Huntley, a student from Golden Valley High School and a member of the first-place team.
Many students expressed that this experience gave them the chance to take part in different interests such as acting and directing but also a chance to spread a very important message about bullying.
“I want to encourage them to do as many projects and a variety of different projects as possible. You know, I don’t want to see them pigeonholed in just doing drama or anything like that,” said Anthony Cook, the teacher and advisor of the Golden Valley High School team. “I love competitions because it kind of like gets the competitive juices flowing and everything. But you know, I encourage them to do short films as well, which there’s a couple competitions that are coming up … So they’re all competitive this year, which I’m really happy to see. So I think it’s just showing in the first one of hopefully many this year.”
The Golden Valley High School first-place winners plan on making another film for the upcoming STN Horror Fest and plan to use the experience they’ve gained from this project for their next. The students describe it as a stalking revenge story that is planned to be released soon.
“It’s an important message that goes out, and I think it’s best when students are the ones sending out the message because I think they know what impacts other students, so the whole message is great,” Hart district Superintendent Michael Vierra said. “I’m always amazed at the work the students do, and the advisors are so good because they guide them, but they really let them prepare. They [the students] produced it, they acted in it … It’s that hands-on experience that the teachers have set up.”
