For the second year in a row, a Daniel Hand High School production team is celebrating a win for its public service announcement (PSA) video submitted to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV)’s annual video public service announcement contest.

The DMV and Travelers Insurance started the contest seven years ago with the goal of creating awareness and fostering good driving habits in teens. Through the contest, teams of up to five students are challenged to create a 25-second PSA announcement centered around a theme. This year’s theme was “Steer Your Friends in the Right Direction.”

Luke Arsenault, technology teacher at Hand, has been using the contest as an exercise in his video production class for the last five years.

“The overall goal is to promote safe driving, but for me I have additional curriculum goals in my video production class,” said Arsenault.

By participating in the DMV Safe Teen Driving contest, the students learn to recognize that the importance of safe driving is a valuable message to convey to their peers and to become better collaborators, creators, performers, and technicians by going through the whole process.

The students also learn about all of the video production process stages, making this project a culmination of those skills, according to Arsenault.

Those skills have paid off, as evidenced by the school’s contest record. In the first two years of Hand’s participation, teams placed in the top 10. The third year a team placed second with an additional group in the top 10. Last year, a team won and another group placed in the top 10. This year saw not only the win, but also two additional groups in the top 10.

“So, I think we are doing something right,” said Arsenault.

Shane Sweitzer, a Daniel Hand senior, is this year’s winning director. His brother is responsible for last year’s win and the previous year’s second place.

“If you’re in that class, it’s like the cool thing,” said Sweitzer.

Sweitzer believes that part of the reason for the win is that his group’s PSA is “on the happier side.”

Another part of the reason is the hard work the students put in. Arsenault presents the contest and theme, groups are formed, and the story creation process begins.

“One of the main reasons for our success, I think, is our brainstorm process. We constantly present our ideas and collectively give constructive criticism, so if the idea isn’t good, it will not get very far,” said Arsenault.

According to Sweitzer, his group spent two full classes coming up with an idea and two weeks in the storyboard process, mapping out the shots and dialogue. Filming happened outside of class time, and the editing was done on computer.

“They utilize the school’s video production equipment, much of it purchased from winning in the past,” said Arsenault.

This year’s win will provide Daniel Hand with a $5,000 prize, some of which will be re-invested in the video production class. The members of the winning team received iPads furnished by AT&T.

This may be just the beginning for Daniel Hand’s video production students.

“Our plans are to keep entering the contest and hope that we have continued success, but the competition is always tough, so there are no guarantees!” said Arsenault.