Erika Mercado, a year 9 student from Blacktown Girls High School has won the “Youth Voices Get Active video competition”, with an outstanding video creation. In her film, she creatively used pixel animation to encourage her peers to exercise together!
This was a part of the NSW video competition facilitated by the “Prevention Education and Research Unit (PERU): Youth Voices”.
Many other students from high schools across Sydney and greater regions entered into the competition with creative entries. You can view a few of the best entries through this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAQ660294GTTc2z5d8EET5Bn-YAg9N9f3.
Erika states that “[She] saw a flyer advertising the competition… and thought it was a perfect opportunity to make a video, test my skills and to convey a really important message,”
She described that she hadn’t had much experience in video editing and that she lacked motivation in this area. However, she didn’t let this stop her, she knew she loved drawing and could use this to her advantage. She personally doesn’t like sports all that much but saw the need and used her skills to make a difference!
Instead of filming people playing sports as was common previously, she thought of using a video game theme to bring the interest of many!
This was a successful initiative that has encouraged many students across different schools to exercise. Well done to Erika for her persistence and ability to try new things in making this creative video!
If you wish to watch Erika’s entry you can access it here: https://youtu.be/agFb91IVe5w?si=NccKl37sAbI6L0q5
For further information, follow the links below:
https://peru-programs.sydney.edu.au/youth-voices-get-active-video-competition/
https://sites.google.com/education.nsw.gov.au/youthvoicesgetactivevideocomp/home
https://education.nsw.gov.au/news/latest-news/erikas-creative-idea-to-get-more-people-moving
