2026 High School Winners

Matty Perkins and Teagan Vanoni are 12th graders at Rancho Campana High School in Camarillo, California. Matty, who is known as the “film and nature kid” at their school, found the contest on their high school’s scholarship list. Matty and Teagan thought it would be great to participate in the contest because it would be a way to learn more about the wetlands and water treatment areas near them.

The pair went through six drafts before deciding to focus their video on settling ponds. Through their research, Matty was shocked to see that up to 70% of Mugu Lagoon, a local wetland near them, experienced erosion during the 1960s. They also found out that their county was a “pioneer for settling ponds in urban spaces and these ponds serve as public recreational sites too.”

With this information in mind, Matty and Teagan decided to showcase different settling ponds in the neighborhood. Even though it took them all day to travel to the various wetlands and film their entire video, it was their favorite part of the project. Matty also took pictures of local wetland birds for their video, including a great blue night heron and snowy egrets. Teagan filmed the video while Matty narrated. Afterwards, Matty used DaVinci Resolve to edit the video and even hand-made all the animations.

Since creating their video, both have encouraged friends and classmates to visit settling ponds to experience nature and birdwatching. Matty is even ready to protest to protect, and build more, settling ponds in areas that are discouraging it. Both have received awards in the past as well: Matty won 9th place out of 300 contestants for another video they submitted for the NY Film Academy School. Meanwhile, Teagan has won several youth awards for photos she’s taken for the Ventura County Fair.

After high school, Matty will attend California State University, Monterey Bay, majoring in film and biology. They hope to study abroad in New Zealand and become an art or biology teacher in the future. Teagan plans to go to community college and then specialize in cosmetology. In their spare time, Matty enjoys collecting vintage cameras and filming their own diary series. Teagan loves hiking and reading.