2026 High School Winners

Allie Parker is in the 11th grade at Mount Vernon School in Atlanta, Georgia. She was introduced to the World of 8 Billion student video contest in her AP Environmental Science class. As part of her Innovation Diploma at school, she has the opportunity to work with many local companies and nonprofits. This year, she worked with Love Beyond Walls, a nonprofit that supports unhoused people in her area, and learned how interconnected homelessness is with bigger economic forces. She learned that as populations grow and urbanization increases, the housing supply can’t keep up with demand, so costs increase. She mentioned that so many people are cost-burdened by housing, spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent, and wanted to raise awareness to help create solutions, as homelessness is increasing rapidly. The statistic that surprised her the most was that on a single night, “over 771,000 people in the United States are experiencing homelessness.”

Allie has created slideshows and taken graphic design classes, but has never put together a video like this before. She shared that she did struggle with the voiceover and the film-editing technology, both of which were new to her. But she ended up using Canva and iMovie, which she mentioned were pretty intuitive tools for the creation and editing process. As a visual learner, she found her favorite part of the video contest to be using Canva to illustrate her ideas. Allie also liked researching, even though she sometimes struggled to find reliable sources. She recommends that future contest participants find a topic they are passionate about. Her video explored an important topic that she didn’t have many opportunities to learn more about in school.

Allie plans to continue educating people in her community about affordable housing issues, whether through social media, school projects, or continuing to work with local organizations. She also serves on the Junior Board of the Smasherson Foundation, a pediatric cancer research foundation. Outside of volunteering, Allie plays soccer and runs cross country, where she is the team captain. She is also a singer and has performed the national anthem numerous times at Atlanta United FC games. She is still figuring out what she wants to do after High School, but mentioned that participating in the contest sparked a real interest in social issues and advocacy. “I could see myself pursuing something in public policy, urban planning, or nonprofit work where I can keep making a difference on issues like this one.”