“IT STARTS WITH ONE:” That’s the title of the award-winning video that a three-member team of sophomores at Princeton High School (PHS) that was submitted by from left: Lila Abreu, Jacob Middlekauff, and Jennie Chen. The video was one of three to win the nation-wide 2013 UNICEF Movies for Development Contest. They won an all-expenses-paid three-day trip to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Annual Meeting and Strategy Session in New York City last week. The winning video can be viewed at http://myactioncenter.unicefusa.org/m4d.

A team of three Princeton High School (PHS) sophomores have won a national competition after submitting their original global citizenship-themed video to the 2013 UNICEF Movies for Development Contest.

Lila Abreu, Jacob Middlekauff, and Jennie Chen. comprised one of three winning teams; they are the sole winners from New Jersey. The other teams are both from California.

“We were really enthusiastic about this project, as it allowed us to express our opinions about the world creatively, and we’re incredibly excited to have won,” said Mr. Middlekauff.

“Winning this movie competition was so exciting for all of us. When we received the email, Lila called me minutes later, and we both shrieked on the phone together. It is incredibly rewarding and encouraging to know that our representation of global citizenship is something insightful and meaningful,” said Ms. Chen.

The three sophomores entered the competition at the urging of Robert Loughran and in the hope of drawing attention to the newly revived PHS UNICEF Club. Mr. Loughran directs the PHS orchestral program and is the club’s advisor.

“As a registered high school on the UNICEF website, we frequently receive emails. Among these was the email explaining the movies for development competition, linked to an old video. I watched this video and was impressed at the level of complexity,” said Ms. Chen.

The PHS UNICEF Club was recently revived at the high school. The sophomores hope that their win will give the club momentum. “We entered the competition so that we could involve ourselves with UNICEF as much as possible and we hoped to spread the word about the organization around our school,” said Mr. Middlekauff.

“We originally entered the contest to get our club more involved with the organization. The club had existed at the school before, but this year, we took a more active approach and started to participate in official UNICEF projects. We hoped that this video would help raise awareness around our school and community,” said Ms. Abreu.

But when the date of the expected announcement of the competition winners came and went, the three friends assumed their entry had failed to place. “The announcement was originally supposed to be a few days before we actually found out, so we thought we hadn’t won. We were very pleased to hear the good news,” said Ms. Abreu.

They won an all-expenses-paid three-day trip to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF Annual Meeting and Strategy Session in New York City, last week, from May 16 through May 18. All three shared enthusiasm for the visit to UNICEF, and for the close encounter with the organization at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF annual meeting.

The sophomores agree that one of the most enjoyable aspects of the activity was being able to put their own thoughts into the video. “Lila, Jacob, and I have been friends since middle school, so it was very natural and fun working together on this project. We each contributed our own skills: Jacob is a great photographer, and Lila is our video editor.

Another member of the club (a friend from middle school) helped us in the process of coming up with the concept of our film and Mr. Loughran is incredibly kind, involved, and dedicated,” said Ms. Chen.

As for their trip to New York City, all three were well prepared to take in every detail of the workings of UNICEF and of their meeting with Mayor Bloomberg, Jenna Bush of the Today Show, and members of the other winning teams from UNICEF Clubs in California schools. Their winning video, “It Starts With One” can be found at http://myactioncenter.unicefusa.org/m4d.