2017 Middle School Winners

Aurelio Santiago and Michael Smith are both sixth graders at Cooper School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The pair created their video as part of a class assignment and chose to focus on Rapid Urbanization because of a personal connection they made. Aurelio shares, “We live in a suburban area that is close to a city and if you go out further you see more trees being cut to make space.”

Aurelio and Michael were aware that population is continually growing while there are people in the world that don’t have homes. So, they decided to share what they know through drawing. The team agrees that recording and editing were the biggest challenges while making their video. Aurelio is the talented artist behind the compelling visuals and the pair share with us the secret behind their success: “Work together and come up with ideas, eliminate the ones that you don’t think are good, as a team, don’t try to do everything on your own. Talk to each other and communicate.”

Both Aurelio and Michael enjoy playing basketball and Michael played for the school team. This summer, the boys plan to spend time outdoors and plan to put their prize money into savings.