2018 Middle School Winners

Alexis Hu, Maggie Claussen, Alexa Baldauff and Mila Thelen are seventh graders at Shorewood Intermediate School in Shorewood, Wisconsin. They created the video for their World Geography class, and shared that after hearing the three topic choices, immediately knew they wanted focus on Advancing Women and Girls. For them, this topic was personal and they felt very passionate about it. Mila tells us, “I was always aware of girls’ education issues, but I haven’t thought about it as deeply as I did with this project before.” The group added that they hadn’t considered population when thinking about global issues previously and now feel more aware of population pressures.

The group’s research shed a lot of light on the topic. For example, Maggie shared, “a recurring theme in our video is the link between the cycle of poverty for women and their child bearing,” which led the girls to their video title and the tagline that appears at the end – “A Woman of Worth.” The girls wanted to spread the message that every woman is a woman of worth. For most of the team, filmmaking was a new endeavor that presented challenges, with the most significant involving logistics because all four of the teammates are in different class periods. In order to complete their video they spent a grueling 9-hour day of filming and editing at Mila’s house.

Alexis is a self-proclaimed math and programming enthusiast. She also enjoys relaxing, watching movies and eating her favorite food, ramen. Maggie spends her time playing clarinet, softball and participating in the Best Buddies Club at school and her favorite food is Italian. Alexa has one younger brother and has rowed crew for two years. Mila is currently taking a break from swimming to try out kickboxing with her dad. She enjoys art and has taken a few summer classes on writing and astronomy at The University of Wisconsin.