×

‘Outstanding Creativity’

Exactly what Eisenhower was shooting for in ‘What’s So Cool About Manufacturing’ contest

“And the winners are…”

Eisenhower Middle School for “Outstanding Creativity” in the Forest Oil Region contest of “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” for Venango, Warren, Forest, and Clarion counties.

The virtual awards event premiered on YouTube this week and can be viewed by visiting https://www.whatssocool.org/contests/pa-forest-oil-region/. The normal in-person awards ceremony was canceled due to COVID-19.

Oil City Area Middle School was named the Outstanding Overall Program winner, and will represent the Forest Oil Region Contest at the statewide competition which will occur — again — as a virtual event in June.

Other award nominees announced were:

www.WhatsSoCool.org Betts Industries was featured in Eisenhower Middle School’s ‘What’s So Cool About Manufacturing’ video contest entry.

Outstanding Career Pathway — Christian Life Academy;

Outstanding Cool (“personality and flare”) — Titusville Middle School;

Outstanding Marketing Plan — Cranberry Jr./Sr. High School;

Viewers’ Choice — Oil City Area Middle School.

The Northwest Industrial Resource Center was again the coordinator for the program, along with numerous community partners and sponsors.

“What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” is a student video contest with the goal to create awareness within the schools and the community about manufacturing careers through the eyes of seventh-and-eighth-grade students. The team, guided by a teacher/coach — in Eisenhower’s case, Eric Shotts, technology education teacher — conducted research, did filming at the company, and edited their video for final submission.

Eight schools and eight manufacturing companies in Venango, Warren, Forest, and Clarion counties participated in the first year of the program for this region. The videos for all the teams are still available for viewing at www.WhatsSoCool.org (look for Forest Oil Region contest).

John Papalia of the Warren County Chamber of Business and Industry (WCCBI) was among judges in the contest, and the Warren County Career Center made medals for the winning team members.

Eisenhower students visited Betts Industries of Warren twice to film and interview employees. The students then used footage to create a two-minute video sharing their take on how cool manufacturing is in Warren County.

“The Outstanding Creativity Award goes to the team thinking outside the box to tell a story in a way that is new, innovative, or unexpected,” announced in the virtual awards event.

“They won the Outstanding Creativity award, which is what they chose to focus on,” said Shotts. “The students had different award categories to try and win, so I suggested for the students to focus on one award and they wisely chose creativity! The reason I suggested this was that we are a small school and didn’t have many days and time to meet during our 30-minute advisory period. Most of these students are active in several extra-curricular activities and really put a lot of time in outside of the classroom and it shows! I couldn’t be more proud of these students! I stepped back, overviewed the roles and let them choose their area of interest. They had interviewers, voiceovers, camera operators, which I think every student grabbed the GoPro and tried their hand at filming, and finally a group that came in and organized the storyboard and clips for editing. They truly showed a desire to tell their story of What’s So Cool about Manufacturing at Betts Industries.”

The Eisenhower Middle School team included: Noel Alexander, Andria Ruth Anderson, Rhiannon Cook, Peyton Kellogg, Kelsi Robbins, Ciara Sherwood, Casey Seymour, Gracie Tomassoni, and Alyssa Wismar.

“I want to thank Betts Industries for partnering with EMHS and specifically these individuals… for volunteering to be on camera and interviewed by our reporters:

“Glenn Burt, Ryan Betts, Tim Witter, Cale Crocker, Michael Britt, Ryan Mortenson

“And, thank you to Kristen Lopian of Betts H.R. for organizing the trips and volunteer schedules.”

Oil City received 4,348 votes online out of 7,763 for the Viewers’ Choice Award.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today