This year, the Kansas Turnpike Authority’s “Put the Brakes on Fatalities” video contest garnered over 30 entries from 19 schools, with over 100 Kansas high school students participating.
The contest originally began in the fall of 2015. Amanda Miller is a communications specialist for KTA who coordinates the video contest for Kansas teens in grades 8-12. She shared the idea behind what got the contest started.
“We wanted to offer a contest to students who were older than the qualifying participants for KDOT’s poster contest, and a video contest seemed like a fun, engaging way to do just that,” she said.
Miller and the Kansas Turnpike Authority know the importance of teen safety behind the wheel, so they are glad to see so many high schoolers participating in the contest and raising awareness. It is also a great opportunity for students to work together and expand media production skills.
“Teens are in their formative driving years, and our goal with the video contest is to get teens thinking about safe driving behaviors that they should incorporate into their own lives,” said Miller. “This video contest is an excellent way for educators to incorporate video production, project management, and collaboration into the classroom. We hear great feedback each year from the students about how much they enjoy putting the videos together.”
The overall winner of the contest was Lansing High’s Tyler Johnson, along with Drew Zeck, Torin Baughman, Gabe Johnson, and Garrett Wecas. Nine VYPE-area high school groups of students were also finalists. They were: Brendon Green, Cassidy Bomholt, and Brayden Rohr (Wichita Northwest), Liam Divoll (Winfield), Barry Sayasing, Marcus Krannawitter, and Reese Hatchett (Salina High), Lexi Doherty and Jadyn Davis (Salina High), Kenneth Moore and Deaven Cosato (Hutchinson), Derek Norris and Jelen Barlow (Hutchinson), Hunter Manning, Mason Stringer, and Devin Larson (El Dorado), Jesse Hernandez and Jorge Garcia (Salina High), and Zozen Reitz and Alex Park (Salina High).
Visit https://www.shorturl.at/mBWX5 to see the three winning videos.
