2022 High School Winners

Ranye Ezenekwe is a freshman at Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, Colorado. She decided to focus on desertification and deforestation for her video because there were so many different ways she could choose to approach the solutions.

In researching for her video, Ranye was surprised about how quickly desertification was affecting environments around the world. “When you hear things about climate change, you feel like the issues are so distant, but I learned that desertification is occurring right now, and because of that we can make changes right now that will have instant ramifications,” she said.

Ranye has been working with animation software since third grade, and  has the skills to use some of the more complex animating platforms. She said that keeping everything under one minute was definitely the most challenging part of her process.“At first my script was three minutes long, and I had to go through it over and over, each time removing content. It was very difficult deciding which things to leave out and which things to keep,” she said.

She said that having a solid footing and understanding the research before diving into the video-making process is key to having a concise and solid video. “You need to have a clear direction of where you’re going in order to create the best solution and best production.”

Ranye also enjoys being a part of the varsity tennis team, playing clarinet, reading, and doing the New York Times crossword puzzle. She hopes to pursue a medical career.