2019 High School Winners

Sophia is a ninth grader at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado. She first heard about the video contest in her Human Geography class when her teacher made it an optional project assignment. Having previously learned about the importance of phosphate as a fertilizer and how it naturally occurs in human urine, she knew this is what her video would focus on. Sophia was previously aware of the connection between population growth and demand for food, and it was this link that led her to submitting a video in the Sustainable Resource Use category.

Video production is not a new experience for Sophia. She produced a documentary for National History Day on Katherine Switzer, the first woman to enter the Boston Marathon. It was through this experience that she became familiar with WeVideo’s editing software, which she also used for the World of 7 Billion video contest. Although she has previous experience with video production, this is the first contest she entered and won. Sophia says the most challenging part of the contest for her was, “finding credible sources because the topic is so niche.” She advises future contest participants to “be mindful of the 60-second time limit and to focus on what is necessary to include in the video rather than overloading it with information.”

She plans on saving her winnings for college and looks forward to spending the rest of the school year playing volleyball and taking piano lessons. She is active outside of school as well, stating, “I enjoy being a part of something larger than myself.” She spends a lot of her free time supporting her father with running a rehabilitation center.