1st Place
2019 High School Winners
2019 Preserving Biodiversity
Ethan Xiong
St. Joseph's Institution International Singapore
Ethan is a 10th grader at St. Joseph’s Institution International in Singapore. This year, he has won awards in two categories, Preserving Biodiversity and Sustainable Resource Use. He was also a middle school winner in the 2016-2017 World of 7 Billion video contest and feels this year was a different experience entirely, stating, “my filmmaking capabilities have advanced so much.” Ethan spoke on his appreciation for the video contest, saying, “I found this contest an ideal opportunity for me, not only because it is open to international students, but also because it challenges me to utilize my filmmaking skills for an important purpose.” Ethan was inspired to submit a video in the Preserving Biodiversity category after visiting an urban farming site where he “learned about the importance of various different pollinators – particularly their usefulness in pollinating berries.” He believes biodiversity is one of the less well-known global issues for people that live in an urban setting. “It’s not immediately obvious why preserving insects – many of which seem like nothing more than pesky creatures that bite and sting – is so important. They are the keystone of our agricultural system, with cultivation of many of the crops we eat every day being so crucial to them.”
Ethan felt that his Preserving Biodiversity video should employ a specific style of animation; one that “represents facts and tells a story.” He intentionally used a bee as his main character to “captivate the audience’s attention.” Editing the animation of his main character posed the most challenging part of the film making process. Some advice he offered to future contest participants is “to not rely on the script alone to convey all the information you wish to include, but instead maximize the video’s potential to complement your script.”
With the prize money, Ethan plans to spend a portion on purchasing a new laptop and the rest on college savings. In school, he is intrigued by math and social sciences, but his favorite subject is “economics because it combines the skills from both these fields.” Outside of academics, Ethan loves snacking on cashews, and stated, “yet another reason, I realized, for me to thank our pollinators!”