Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services and the Montgomery County Police Department have announced the winners of the 2022-2023 “Keeping it Safe Coalition” student video contest. The annual contest encouraged teams create 30-second public service announcements to educate young people about the risks of under-21 alcohol use. The winning videos can be seen here.
This year’s high school award winners are:
- First Place: Gaithersburg High School. Students Ethan Butler and Brandon Barrios will receive a $1,000 prize.
- Second Place: Winston Churchill High School. Students Siena Mezger, Aliza George and Jaina Simon will receive a $500 prize.
- Third Place: Thomas S. Wootton High School. Students Alex Pent, Ashley Carr, Bilal Somji and Digonto Chatterjee will receive a $350 prize.
- Honorable Mention: Northwood High School. Student Hailie Clarke will receive a $100 prize.
The middle school award winners are:
- First Place: Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Students Griffin Bhargava, Amit Hegde, Sahnan Gadikota and Samarth Korada will receive a $500 prize.
- Second Place: Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Student Karim Sangare will receive a $300 prize.
- Third Place: Hallie Wells Middle School. Students Adam Setiadji, Sai Sentihl, Aiden Rolnick, Nikhil Nare and Sid Karnati will receive a $250 prize.
- Honorable Mention: Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School. Students Riya Sanan and Ceinwyn Chambers will receive a $100 prize.
For the second year in a row, Travel Television, a member of the Keeping It Safe Coalition, sponsored the Most Popular video award for high school and middle school participants. This award recognized the video with the most online views and “likes.” This year’s most popular video for high schools and middle schools is:
- Winston Churchill High School. Students Siena Mezger, Aliza George and Jaina Simon. They will receive $150.
In this year’s contest, 59 videos were submitted from 27 schools.
Making A Difference at Gaithersburg Middle School
Model United Nations (UN) students at Gaithersburg Middle School organized a Food Insecurity Day to bring awareness to people facing food insecurity in the world, across the country and in Montgomery County community. Gaithersburg offers a Model UN class as an elective. Watch a video on Food Insecurity Day.
Pride Town Hall Increases Awareness, Promotes Community
The annual Pride Town Hall was held May 20 at Walter Johnson High School. The event featured workshops, activities for elementary students, community building for secondary students and a resource fair. The keynote speaker was Elizabeth “Lizzy” Graham, a local advocate who spoke to her experiences as a transgender, autistic woman. Graham works with the LGBTQIA+ community, and helps run a peer-led transgender support group. Watch a video from the event.
Redland Middle School Wins ‘Paint the Plow’ Contest
Redland Middle School’s winning design
Redland Middle School won first place in the Montgomery County Department of Transportation’s (MCDOT’s) Paint the Plow snowplow naming contest, winning $500. The winning design emulated the popular Pokémon franchise with the theme “Snowkémon” and the slogan “Gotta Melt It All.”
Students from 11 MCPS middle schools participated in the contest. Snowplows and paint supplies were delivered by MCDOT to each school and the student teams had four days to name and decorate their snowplows.
Westland Middle School was the second-place winner with its decorated snowplow “Plowser,” a play off Mario Brothers. They were awarded $300. A team from John Poole Middle School was the third-place winner for its decorated plow “Winter Warrior,” which showcased an anime theme and won $200.
The decorated plows will be part of the MCDOT fleet that will be clearing snow from streets this winter. Pictures of the painted plows can be viewed on the MCDOT Twitter, Facebook and Instagram social media pages.
Seven Locks Fifth Grader Wins Regional History Bee
Fifth grader Ava Gerson
Seven Locks Elementary School fifth grader Ava Gerson has been named the 2023 Who Was? History Bee Champion for the Northeast Region. Earlier this year, more than 200 third, fourth and fifth graders competed in the first round of multiple-choice questions on people and events from the Penguin Press’ “Who Was?” history series organized by Meredith Hickman, the school’s media specialist. The top two students in each class then competed in a formal bee assembly, similar to national spelling bee contests. Ava correctly answered her trivia questions, beating out 17 students and moved on to the individual essay submission with Ms. Hickman. Ava’s work was selected as the winner for the entire Northeast region. She was celebrated virtually, hosted Roblox during a May 18 event, and will receive a grant and collections of the “Who Was?” history series.
MCPS Teachers Featured at Gaithersburg Book Festival
Authors from across the country arrived at the Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 20 to read and promote their works. MCPS teachers Jonathan Roth from Ashburton Elementary School, and Sara Goodman Confino from Watkins Mill High School, were both there to talk about their books. Watch a video from the event.
MCPS In The News
Sherwood boys’ lacrosse beats Churchill to reach its first state final
MCPS Records New Pregame Announcements to Include Spanish Version
