Advances to national competition

Ely Yang, a 17-year-old senior at Winslow High School, also studying videography at Mid-Maine Technical Center in Waterville, has been selected by Kennebec Federal Savings as the winner of the preliminary round of the “Lights, Camera, Save!” video competition, sponsored by the American Bankers Association. The competition, open to those between 13 and 18 years of age, solicits original short videos from teens nationwide; each video must promote the value of saving money and using money wisely among teens.

Ely worked with his MMTC teammates, Joseph Damon and George Bailey, to create the video. Ely’s teacher at MMTC, who made his team aware of the “Lights, Camera, Save!” competition, is Dave Boardman, Mass Media Communications Instructor.

Ely submitted his video to Kennebec Federal Savings, a participating financial institution for the “Lights, Camera, Save!” video competition. Kennebec Federal Savings selected Ely’s video to advance to the national competition and awarded Ely a new GoPro camera at a ceremony held in Waterville on January 4.

Ely’s video now advances to the national competition, where the first, second and third place winners will be announced by the American Bankers Association Foundation on February 27. The top three national winners will receive cash prizes of $5,000, $2,500, and $1,000 respectively, to fund their savings goals. Each winner’s school also will receive a scholarship for a teacher to attend the Jump$tart National Educator Conference.

Click on the video below to view the winning entry, or please visit: https://vimeo.com/304195544.

Dave Carew is a freelance book editor / publicist / copywriter. He can be reached at (615) 540-7457.

Submitted by Mark Huard

Over the last month and a half, the Winslow Police and Parks & Recreation Department have been collecting food donations for the Winslow School Department’s Food Pantry Program. As we know, there are families that are struggling even in Winslow, and they depend on the school to provide at least one solid, healthy meal a day. However, when school is not open during the weekends or vacations, many students go hungry.

Last year the Winslow Police Department collected gifts for families that were unable to purchase Christmas gifts. This year they elected to help out the entire family but providing needed food that anyone in the household could benefit. The food drive was extremely successful with so many people stopping by to drop off food, toiletries, checks and gift cards. The records room was so stuffed that the records clerk had to suspend moving end of the year records. Having a problem like this is not a real problem, but a wonderful problem to have.

At the end of the food drive, they needed a full-size van and truck to transport all the supplies to the high school. There it will be separated and moved to the other schools. This minor gesture of community service will serve so many in need.