2018 Middle School Winners

Louisa Fowler, Chloe Osbourn, Masha Velinakov, and Paulina Fenske are seventh graders at Shorewood Intermediate School in Shorewood, Wisconsin and found out about the contest when their teacher Mrs. Kopplin assigned it in their World Geography class. The team decided to create a video about Advancing Women and Girls because as a group of young women, they felt a personal connection to the issue. Masha shared that, “while researching the topic, it stood out to us the impacts that gathering water had on girls’ education.” Prior to the project, the four friends were aware that many girls around the world face barriers when trying to access education, but agreed that they walked away from the project they had a deeper understanding of the associated issues.

For a couple of the girls, this was their first time creating a film. They ran into some challenges, such as being in different classes, which made collaboration difficult at times, getting their voice over to align with the video, and narrowing down broader topics to fit all the information they wanted in a 60-second video. The girls share some pearls of wisdom for future participants: “Pick a group you’ll work well with,” says Chloe, while Masha suggested team members, “make sure to keep your cool and don’t be afraid to start over and try again because there will be things you’ll get wrong the first time around.”

In her spare time, Louisa enjoys playing the piano and viola, running and playing soccer, and has a pet tortoise. Paulina has two dogs, a Teddy Bear Bichon and a Maltese, plays tennis, piano and the cello. Masha enjoys art such as sketching on her iPad, has a Miniature Golden Doodle, and also plays tennis. Chloe plays the violin and enjoys doing ballet when she’s not spending time with friends and family. The team is thinking about using their prize money to plan a group outing and tell us that creating their video was a fun experience that helped build their friendship.