Lights, camera, action!

St. Eustache students take video contests by storm

Students at Ecole St. Eustache School found themselves in the spotlight recently — as stars of the silver screen.

The Grade 5/6 class worked hard this past fall and winter to create seven 30-second anti-bullying videos, which they entered in two video contests – one provincial and one international.

They couldn’t believe it when they were announced as finalists in both.

“We were pretty surprised — it was unexpected,” said Grade 5 student James Harvey.

The students’ teachers weren’t quite so bowled over.

“I find if you give them the tools and the background they need, they’ll come up with something incredible,” said teacher Danys Lachance.

Principal Virginia Stephenson said St. Eustache has a tradition of student excellence.

“We’re a small school, and we may be out in the country, but we’re very much alive and well.”

The students entered their videos in the “wee reels” category of the Freeze Frame international film festival for children. Five of the seven videos made it to the finals, and at an awards night on March 17, one of the videos won the award for best acting.

That film — created by students Meike Meilleur, Kennedy Wolanski, Summer Lachance, and James Harvey — also made the Top 10 in a provincial contest.

The contest, called the “Not in my School” bullying-awareness challenge, was launched by the province to encourage students to examine the issue of bullying in schools.

“The thing I really liked about the project is that it focused on solutions,” said Lachance. “It either confirmed what they knew, or it changed their views.”

The students were split into groups of four and each group had to come up with a unique concept. The students did all of their own storyboards, camera work, acting and editing.

“It’s creativity and learning at the same time,” said Grade 6 student Summer Lachance.

The video was put on DVD and sent to schools across the province. Students were asked to watch videos from other schools and determine which ones they liked best.

“It felt really good that other people in our province would see the videos. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” said Grade 6 student Aaron Saiko.

The top three videos in the provincial competition will be announced in April. Each winning video will receive a prize of $1,000 for the school, and will be aired on the “Not in my School” website.

But the students say it really doesn’t matter if their video makes the top three.

“The other prize is that people get to see your video,” said Saiko. “That’s prize enough.”