 The winners of the Kindness Campaign video contest were announced May 3 at Brenden Theatres in Vacaville by myself and Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams following a screening of the top 10 video submissions.
Kindness Campaign Awards Gala
This past
Wednesday (May 3) dozens of students, their teachers and families filled
Brenden Theatres in Vacaville for what could be a once-in-a-lifetime
experience.
For the
students, it was a chance to see their work-in video format-shown on the big
screen, complete with booming surround sound and from the comfort of the
recently installed reclining seats. More important, it was an opportunity for
their voices to be heard on the topic of bullying and the power of kindness.
In March, a
Kindness Campaign was rolled out to all Solano County students in grades 7
through 12. The idea was to get students to address the negative impact of
bullying by making a video that expressed how positive behavior can have an
improve their school communities. By focusing on kindness, the
project was able to compliment the push for positive behavior interventions
that school leaders have embraced across the county. Many of our youth feel the
weight of bullying at school and today that pressure can follow them home through
social media. Through the Kindness Campaign, we hope to promote positive
behavior as a way to combat bullying.
The student response
to this inaugural video contest was impressive. Each of the 50 videos entered
were unique and many carried a strong message about the harm bullying can do to
our youth in the digital age, whereas others offered hope and could serve as a model
for all of us as we think about how we interact with others on a day-to-day
basis.
Through the
generosity of Brenden Theatres, the top 10 finalist videos had a proper venue
and the red carpet was rolled out to greet them. Some worked alone, some worked
as a group, and in all, 27 students from Buckingham Magnet Charter High School,
Vanden High School, Fairfield High School and Early College High School rose to
the top. It was a packed theater, as the students brought their parents and
teachers along for the show.
In one
particular video, the opening shot pans across a classroom of students only to
settle on an empty desk. The next scene shows a football player throwing a ball
downfield, only to find there is no one there to catch it. The video closes by
asking the viewer, “If kindness saves lives, who did you save?”
For me the
takeaway from that student's work is we don’t always know what’s going on in
someone else’s life, and the choices we make to be kind or not could make the
difference between that desk being filled or empty.
Other videos
found the perfect marriage between music and the message. The videos had the ability make us laugh and
make us think deeply about how our actions affect others.
The winning
video (click link to view: http://bit.ly/2q7Kwzy),
entered by Buckingham Charter Magnet High School students Savannah Wylie,
Brooke Parker, Isaac Flower and Trinity Garrido, used words and music to make a powerful
statement about the harmful effects that teasing, making threats or spreading rumors
can have on someone. The video reminds us that we all have feelings, and asks
the viewer to consider which voice they want to be: One that has the power to
save a life or end one.
The work
that our students have put in to address the harmful effects of bullying does
not end here. There is no stronger voice than that of our youth, the ones who
are directly impacted by harmful behavior, going directly to their classmates,
teachers, family and friends. And having
seen the work of these talented kids, I believe there is hope for kindness to
spread in our community.
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Since 2003, Supervisor John M. Vasquez has had the privilege to represent the 4th Supervisorial District covering Northern Solano County. The district includes portions of Vacaville and Dixon. |
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