2018 High School Winners

Sherron Thomas is a senior at Coppell High School in Coppell, TX and created his video as an assignment in his environmental science class. He recalls that even as a young child, he was aware of people being wasteful and found it almost painful to see resources being thrown away or misused. But, pollution wasn’t the only thing he could relate to in his video, he knew about population growth as well. “I’m from India – there is a lot of population growth there and so much trash everywhere. You can really see how population growth affects pollution there.”

Sherron has created videos before, for projects but also around his hobbies. For this film, he was trying out a new animation software, which made the process especially interesting. It also made it challenging and he shared that editing the film was the most difficult part of the process because of the sharp learning curve. His advice for future participants was to think hard about why they were making the film: “Instead of looking at the contest to win, try finding a motivation for why you want to enter.” Wanting to create a video that would empower people to make a difference was Sherron’s motivation.

As a big fan of computers, Sherron loves learning new software programs and applications. He has a musical side as well, participating in choir and playing the guitar. As for the prize money, Sherron thinks he’ll probably use it for college. He has a strong interest in the science of the brain, so plans to go to medical school and is considering a path in neurology. Sherron will attend UT-Austin and study biochemistry this fall.