2021 Middle School Winners

Stephanie, an L.A. native, is in the 8^th grade at the Westerly School in Long Beach, California. She learned about the contest while conducting online research with her mom, and chose to submit a video for the Promoting Environmental Justice category because she is passionate about the environment and enjoys participating in local beach clean-ups in her community. On one of her beach trips, she found plastic everywhere. “Do people actually swim in this? Is this what our oceans look like?” she thought to herself. Since a very young age, Stephanie has been worried about the planet, stating that there is “major environmental injustice around the world” which she has personally experienced. Her conviction for environmental justice led her to enter the contest to relay her message to the rest of the world.

This is Stephanie’s first experience with video editing and filmmaking — she describes herself as “not very tech savvy.” This presented a challenge for Stephanie, who shares how she “was struggling a lot and wanted to stop, but I kept going because I wanted to get my message out there.” She persevered as she wanted to engage her audience and clearly convey her message. Stephanie had previous knowledge about the environment and global issues overall. However, the contest allowed her to conduct in depth research into the topic where she learned how severe of an issue environmental injustice was.

For future contests, Stephanie shared that she would, “love to see a topic about pollution and how it affects the animals, our environment in general, the ecosystem and how it’s slowly degrading.” She believes that pollution, “is a big issue with the icebergs melting and our oceans rising. Why aren’t we rising to do something about it? The air is getting hotter and we should be changing with it, the earth will not be the same in a few years in 2040 and beyond.”

In her spare time, Stephanie plays club volleyball, violin, piano and the ukulele. She also plays for the inner city youth orchestra of L.A., bringing music to the black community. She was elected as a youth commissioner for her city and oversees a whole park! She also loves to bake, hang out with friends and watch Netflix. Her inspiration is Greta Thundberg, admiring how “she’s so young and not scared to voice her opinions. She’s fighting for her future and is not afraid to speak her mind.”