Young Changemakers: Featured in Bow Seat’s International Ocean Advocacy Gallery

On Friday, 12 November 2021, four of last year’s high school drama students — Yusia Xiao, Kyna Tam, Jenny Zhang, and Jessica Famolare — in Ms. Kimberly Williams’s course won the Honorable Mention Award in the 2021 Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest Film Category.  Their submission stood out from the nearly 6,000 entries that were received from around the world. Only 22 films received an award!

The 2021 Contest theme –Water Rising– expanded Bow Seat’s traditional focus from oceans to include all waterways. Essential for all life, water is the most vital resource on Earth. Participants addressed a wide range of critical issues such as sea level rise, flooding, drought, and water injustice. The students created a video called PPN Network that shared their water story and spoke up for the health of the environment. They are part of an international community of young changemakers who are advocating for a healthier and more sustainable world.

Bow Seat Ocean Awareness
Reflection: Despite the efforts of humanity so far, we believe that there is still more work to do in terms of environmental protection and stopping the water from rising. Puppet Pals News (PPN) Network serves to communicate such a point. This project was mostly inspired by the popular video series “Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared” by Joseph Pelling and Becky Sloan, who used puppets for gruesome imagery as a parody of children’s television shows. With our usage of puppets, we contrasted the darker side of our narrative using light-hearted jokes and images. We think that this makes our serious message more interesting to the viewers and even ourselves. We came up with the name “Contamination Creation” to describe a human extinction event sometime in the future caused by the sea levels rising and huge amounts of pollution. This led us to design puppets and a film set that look like remnants of human civilization and are made from mostly recycled materials. Through this film, we hope to show that spreading awareness and doing environmental work does not have to be boring or solemn. And ultimately, we wish that the humor in the video draws attention to the issues at hand–environmental protection and stopping the waters from rising.

The students and their work have been featured in Bow Seat’s international ocean advocacy Gallery. Winners will be highlighted on Bow Seat’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram over the next several months. Follow them on social media (@fromthebowseat) to see their work showcased.

As Honorable Mention Award winners, they have won a USD$250 total cash scholarship, which amounts to USD$62.50 per group member. Well done to our four students for this achievement!

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