SHALIMAR — Students at Meigs Middle School might be new at video production but if a recent award is any indication, they’re naturals.
Seven students from the school’s Wildcat Information Network (WWIN) won first place last week in a statewide public service announcement contest for the 2014 Celebrate Literacy Week, Florida!
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“It was really surprising,” eighth-grader Bethany Tisza said. “We were just doing it as an exercise and for next year.”
The students were notified over Christmas break that they were one of the top three middle schools in the competition. They traveled to the Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 16 for the award ceremony with Florida’s first lady Ann Scott.
The students worked on the video for about two weeks and taped the 26-second video on a cold, windy day.
Working from the theme, “Reading accelerates your success,” they decided to make a video involving a rocket built after reading a book. They had no idea the awards ceremony would be in Cape Canaveral.
When they arrived, they only knew they had won first, second or third place. After showing all three videos the groups were called up, starting with third place, then second and finally Meigs Middle School.
“It was like another Christmas present,” seventh-grader Logan Martin said.
The group won a certificate and $1,000.
They weren’t the only local school to perform well. Niceville High School took third place in its division.
The students were still on cloud nine Tuesday from their win, but because six of the seven will be at Meigs next year, they’re already looking ahead, said Pam Tisza, who oversees the students in WWIN.
“How are we going to top this next year, y’all?” Tisza asked.
“We’re going to do it again and build a better rocket,” seventh-grader Ethan Fekety said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Katie Tammen at 850-315-4440 or ktammen@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KatieTnwfdn.
