March 28, 2024
Annapolis, US 49 F

St. Martin’s 8th graders in running for $10,000 grant

image003Scotties, a leader in the tissue industry is pleased to announce the top 10 entries in their Trees Rock® video contest. The 8th grade students from St. Martin’s Lutheran School in Annapolis, MD have emerged as one of the top 10 finalists in the 6th – 8th grade section of this national video contest. The Grand Prize Winner in this division will receive $10,000 for the school to use towards a sustainable project, such as tree plantings, outdoor classrooms, playgrounds, athletic fields, gardens and greenhouses. All kids who entered the contest were required to create a video up to 3 minutes long on the importance of trees — to themselves, their school, and their community.

Students were encouraged to be as creative as possible in their entries – for example, by creating a poem, a play, a speech, a song, or a dance. After rigorous scrutiny by a panel of judges, entries from around the country were narrowed down to the 10 best in 3rd – 5th grade and the 10 best in 6th-8th grade  the categories of most compelling relative to theme, clarity of message, and creativity.

Led by Anne Arundel County Private School Teacher of the Year, Ms. Erin Kolarik and her 8th grade students created a video interviewing kids in younger grades about the importance of trees. After a few answers like “I love trees, they give us lettuce!” the kids found themselves becoming the teacher and enlightening their fellow students on all amazing things trees do.

[One] challenge we faced [in making this video] was reaching a balance between the fun facts about trees and higher-level facts about the environmental benefits trees offer,” said the 8th graders. “We wanted the video to make people smile, showcase student personalities, yet also provide factual information. There were so many awesome responses which was difficult to edit footage down to less than 3 minutes.”

St. Martin’s Lutheran School is no stranger to environmental stewardship. According to Kolarik “We were named a “Green School” a few years ago, run a recycling program, and every grade completes Green lessons/projects throughout the academic year.  Last year’s 8th grade students created an energy efficiency video as part of a state-wide Power Savers contest and were named one of the 5 winners.  Students were trained by members of the National Energy Alliance to become Student Energy Auditors.”

Winners will be chosen by voters across America who can watch the top videos and vote for their favorite from January 12th through February 6th on www.scottiestreesrock.com.  The winners in both categories will be announced on Feb 15th and winner events will be celebrated in spring 2015.

Scotties is passionate about sustainability with their 3-to-1 promise. In which for every one tree they use, they plant three in its place. Over the last 50 years, J.D. Irving, Scotties’ parent company has planted 850 million trees in North America.

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