2025 Middle School Winners

Hasini Dharmireddy and Advika Raut are in the 8th grade at Central Middle School in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Their social studies teacher assigned the World of 8 Billion video contest in class. Originally they were not planning on submitting a video but ultimately chose to enter because they wanted to raise awareness about food insecurity. They created a video on child wellbeing because they are both interested in the topic and Hasini wants to go into the medical field. Hasini and Advika shared that they were familiar with some challenges around food insecurity with a growing population, specifically within India, where they are both from. Participating in the contest helped them realize how widespread the issue is and how little is being done to help eliminate food insecurity.

Advika and Hasini have created videos for school assignments in the past but this is the first time they entered their work into a competition. The most challenging part of the process was agreeing on one topic and determining the solution. Hasini added that editing the video and making the drawings was also really challenging. Some advice she has for future contest participants is to plan your video out ahead of time so that it will be easier to piece together. Advika shared that it was helpful to get as much information as you can in the beginning and then spend time deciding what will make the most impact in your video.

Advika is into arts and crafts and likes to paint. She created most of the drawings for their video. She is also on the volleyball team and has won awards in dance competitions in the past. Hasini is a chess champion and into acrylics and drawing with colored pencils. She also plays basketball, soccer, and badminton. Advika’s role model is her mom because she always tries to make people feel better and her dad because he always teaches her something new regardless of the time it takes to learn. Advika is not sure what she wants to do after high school but she is considering a future career in animation. Hasini shared that her parents inspire her but she also looks up to doctors because they save lives every day and have great work ethics. She is planning on pursuing a medical degree after she graduates high school because she “wants to work to make people’s lives better, so wellbeing plays an important role in that.”