2017 Middle School Winners

Kate Wright is a seventh grader at Delisle Composite School in Saskatchewan, Canada. She participated in the contest through her science class. She was already very aware of how pressing an issue rising sea levels are, which is why she was excited about the idea of creating a video to highlight the problem. Additionally, Kate shared with us that her family makes a conscious effort to leave a small mark on the environment, and instilled in her their respect for the natural world.

Kate set two important criteria for herself before she sat down to film her video. She knew that she needed to produce a video that would stylistically stand out from the competition, but she also wanted her video to engage and inspire her audience. The way she accomplished this was to combine a unique stop motion technique – a skill she learned in the fifth grade – with a DIY style, resulting in a video that effectively translates her chosen issue into an easily understandable visual explanation.

Kate loves music, and finds as many ways to follow her passion as possible. She plays both the euphonium and the violin in her school band, which plays both pop and classical music. Just for fun, she also plays bluegrass on the fiddle. Kate and her family are politically active and use their farm, where they grow crops like oats and barley, to inform their community about the benefits of buying locally grown organic foods.