2018 High School Winners

William Mester and Keith Nemecek, both juniors at Royal Oak High School in Royal Oak, Michigan found out the contest from their AP Environmental Science class, though it wasn’t an assignment. Will, who is also in the Advanced Video Production class, decided that with the resources available to him from class, he and Keith would go all out with the assignment and submit the video. The Preventing Pollution challenge instantly clicked with them because neighboring Detroit is, and has been, a big part of the automobile industry.

William and Keith are car enthusiasts. Every year when the Woodward Dream Cruise rolls around they attend. Will shared, “We actually had a project in our class where we had to design a sustainable vehicle, so we did a lot of research on electric vehicles and it sparked some ideas for our video.” Will has entered film competitions in the past and had a good sense of what makes a winning video. Keith shared that the pair wanted to highlight the impacts different cars have on their immediate area, specifically new electric cars. The day before they were scheduled to shoot their footage, Royal Oak got over one foot of snow. On the day of filming, it took two trips to two different car dealerships to find the Chevy Bolt featured in their video and once they finally found the car, it was covered in snow and needed to be dug out to get the perfect shot. The pair encourage future contest participants to plan when and where filming will take place ahead of time, and to speak on something you’re passionate about.

Will is the class historian and as such, is tasked with making a senior class video, while Keith serves as the Vice President of the upcoming senior class. Keith is also part of the Royal Oak Raven Changers, a board of students who are nominated by teachers to help improve student life at school. William and Keith co-founded the Interactive Technology school club and are currently fundraising to acquire materials and equipment for students. Will is a technology officer for the Model United Nations team. He enjoys debating and has even won a few awards for it. He shared that the Advanced Video class “really keeps me busy with short films, and documentaries.”