ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Lynn Classical High School students and teacher watch the three-minute video they made called “Fire Prevention Funk.” From left, standing are students Sara Pleitz, Twan Melis and Nicole Stanley. Sitting is Afton Dean, the media teacher.
BY GABE MARTINEZ
LYNN — Students from Lynn Classical High School were honored for their fire safety video as part of the 8th annual statewide YouTube Burn Awareness Video Contest.
While Classical did not win the contest — it finished sixth — the students won an honorable mention award during a ceremony at the Burn Center at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Boston.
“Anytime it’s a statewide contest, it’s great recognition for the school,” said teacher Afton Dean.
Teams from across 21 Massachusetts high schools competed in the contest.
Dean, a media and TV teacher at the school, was the advisor for the students during the making of the video.
Nicole Stanley, a junior, heard a song which gave the team inspiration for its video.
“On the radio, ‘Uptown Funk’ was playing,” Stanley said. “I thought, this is a really catchy song and we could totally make this into a video for the contest.”
The team included four students: seniors Twan Melis and Sara Pleitzez, Anthony Gandolfo, a sophomore, and junior Nicole Stanley. They worked for three weeks during class time on the production, lyrics and videotaping of the three-minute project.
The video was a remake of the song ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. Lyrics were substituted with facts about fire safety.
“It really grabbed everyone’s attention,” Stanley said. “It was catchy enough and informative enough, it was perfect for us.”
The students said the experience was a team effort, and they even learned facts about fires.
Stanley said that she learned that most fires occur during Thanksgiving.
The team has not shown the video to its classmates yet, but the video will be shown Wednesday March 16 during the school day.
The students said they are excited to show their classmates.
The contest was sponsored by Massachusetts Association of Safety and Fire Educators and the Massachusetts Property Insurance Underwriting Association.
The contest was open to high school students enrolled in Bay State schools. Submissions had to be from school-sponsored communications courses or extracurricular groups.
The first-place team received $200 in gift cards, the second-place team received $100 in gift cards, while the third-place team received $50 in gift cards.
While the team was upset it did not win one of the top three prizes, the students were proud of their efforts.
“It wasn’t even about the prize,” Stanley said. “It was about representing Classical.”
Gabe Martinez can be reached at [email protected] follow him on Twitter @gemartinez92.
