Somerville High School Chosen By Students As the 2013 PSA Project Winner
WOBURN – Somerville High School has been named the winner of the 2013 PSA Project hosted by Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. for an original video highlighting the theme of empowering students to speak up to help those in need.
Somerville High School students Maxwell Freitas, Kathlyn Almeida and Kyla Brown-Haynes were the creators of the winning video, titled “Don’t Be a Bystander: DO SOMETHING.”
More than 200 students worked on the 50 videos submitted to the annual contest. The winning video premiered on FOX25 Morning News today during an interview with the Somerville students and District Attorney Ryan.
“It has been an incredible experience to see the strong messages portrayed in the work students have submitted,” District Attorney Ryan said. “All of the videos we received truly took on that vital message of speaking up because your voice matters. I commend the students from Somerville High for creating such a compelling, poignant video that I know will encourage their peers to stand up and speak up for each other.”
Other finalists in the 2013 PSA Project were: Lexington High School, Melrose High School, Nashoba Valley Regional Technical High School, and Somerville High School (second entry).
All entries were viewed and finalists were selected by a panel of school personnel, law enforcement officials, and members of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. The five PSA finalists were shown to more than 1,000 middle and high school students throughout Middlesex County in classrooms and assemblies where students casted their votes to select a winner.
The District Attorney’s PSA Project was created with Middlesex Partnerships for Youth, Inc. to spark a dialogue among teens and to include teens in the conversation on issues such as healthy relationships, substance abuse, and impaired driving.
The contest began in 2009 with the theme of teen dating violence and the winner was created and produced by students from Somerville High School. After the contest’s initial success, the theme for the following year was a focus on teen impaired driving. Lowell High School came away as a winner. In 2011, two students from Lexington High School won after they submitted their PSA on cyber safety. Lexington High School was a repeat winner in 2012 for a PSA on the dangers of sexting called “I Respect Myself.”
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has a proud tradition of protecting and serving the people of Middlesex County through tough, fair prosecutions and proactive, progressive prevention and intervention efforts. The mission of the Office of the Middlesex District Attorney is to protect and serve the public, fight for victims, and speak for those who otherwise would have no voice.
Middlesex County is the largest county in Massachusetts and one of the largest counties in the country with 54 towns and cities and 26 colleges in urban, suburban, and rural areas, comprising over one quarter of the population of Massachusetts. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office has offices throughout the county, including communities such as Ayer, Cambridge, Concord, Framingham, Lowell, Malden, Marlborough, Newton, Somerville, Waltham and Woburn.