2024 High School Winners

Ruike Pan is in the 9th grade at Eastside Preparatory High School in Kirkland, Washington. She was first introduced to the contest last year when participating in it as part of a class project. Prior to making videos for World of 8 Billion, she was not familiar with filmmaking or editing. However, she appreciates how it gives students an opportunity for creative freedom to make a video on a topic they are passionate about. This year, Ruike created a climate migration video without being prompted by a class assignment because she wanted to participate in the contest again.

She chose to create a video on floods because she knows relatives in other areas that are affected by flooding and has learned how climate change is putting cities such as Jakarta at risk of sinking. Prior to competing in the contest, Ruike knew that population growth increases demand for resources and pressure on the environment. It surprised her to learn about the number of people who will potentially be displaced in future years due to increased flooding. Through the process of creating the video she learned about more ways that humans and nature can co-exist. “Although our society places an emphasis on efficiency, we can improve a lot of things if we consider the long-term environmental impacts.” Ruike encourages students to pick a topic they are passionate about. “You’ll have the opportunity to create a video best expressing the changes you want to see, and it will be easier to put more effort into it.”

In her free time, Ruike is a talented artist and passionate about debate. She enjoys crafting and collecting small trinkets and using them in creative projects. For this video, she used the technique of needle felting to make the animals and drew the illustrated pictures in the beginning and end frames. She has been on the debate team for five years and finds joy in the challenge of preparing speeches for public speaking. Despite only being a freshman, she has already advanced to state-wide competitions and placed within the top 8 at the national qualifiers. In the future, Ruike is considering either going to law school, becoming a surgeon, or working as a diplomat in geopolitics. She plans to save the prize money and spend a bit on purchases for more crafting, a skill she taught herself by following along with online videos.