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A group of Suffolk Christian Academy middle school students won the Keep Suffolk Beautiful “Start Smart, Recycle Right” video challenge.

The challenge was for students, as individuals or in groups, to pair with a sponsoring teacher to create a one-minute video that illustrates what items are recyclable, what items are not, and ways to mitigate waste by purchasing reusable goods.

After reviewing “several amazing entries,” the Keep Suffolk Beautiful panel decided that the first-place video was crafted and submitted by Emery Garza, Harper Sullivan, Mason Blair and Levi Duran of Suffolk Christian.

The video challenge “was a great way to reinforce to our students the importance of the wise use of our resources,” said Kristy Cornette, sponsoring teacher for the winning group. “Students had to consider the many ways that they can reduce the amount of waste they produce, how to properly recycle waste products, and then use a creative format to communicate this information to others. I am very proud of all of our students’ work.”

The prize selection was a $650 value, and the school had several options to choose from. Suffolk Christian Academy chose a water bottle refilling station, which will help to mitigate waste and reliance on single-use plastics.

The winning students were surprised by their victory, and expressed joy in working with one another.

“I really didn’t expect to win, but I enjoyed making the video with my friends,” Mason Blair said.

Harper Sullivan added: “I feel excited that we won because I wasn’t expecting it. I really enjoyed working with my group because they were really funny.”

With the goals of the video challenge being to educate students and to have fun while doing so, Keep Suffolk Beautiful deemed it a success.

“We were extremely pleased and impressed with all of the student submissions and are already excited about the potential of future challenges,” said board member Sharon LaBella.

For more information, contact Daniel McDonald, Suffolk Litter Control coordinator, at littercontrol@suffolkva.us or 757-514-7604.