Everyone has problems, but it isn’t about fixing them but acknowledging them.
On February 1, 2024, the Dublin Unified School District opened its annual district-wide Public Service Announcement (PSA) contest. Dublin chooses an impactful topic related to the community each year for this contest. Last year, it was Anti-Vaping. This year, it was Fentanyl Awareness.
However, unlike other contests, this isn’t about finding one winner but recognizing various individuals with creativity. There are three categories for submission: Audio, Print, and Video. In total, the DUSD received 122 submissions from all categories.
The submitting process was simple. Dublin Unified opened the PSA contest on February 1st and closed it on March 4, 2024.
The Top 10 winners for each category were chosen on March 8th, followed by the Top 3 Students on March 20th.
Finally, on March 26th, 2024, all three top winners and their families were invited to the DUSD Boardroom, where 11th grader One Nguyen won the Audio section, DHS 11th graders Abraham Aini, Shaaktiram Balakuman, and Amaan Mohammed won first in the Video category, and Meghna Rangeneni, eighth Grader at Fallon Middle School, took first place in the Print division.
The Top 3 winners are listed below.
Although these district-wide competitions are used to create advocacy, students still have a chance to win a prize. All first-place winners earn a cash prize of $200. The PSA contest has helped so many by recognizing the youth community and what they can do to help in the future. Fentanyl destroys lives and can impact anyone, rich or poor, intelligent and successful. It does not discriminate. Fallon students and admin were asked what they think about the importance of Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention.
Mehtab Deol, a seventh grader, says, “Fentanyl has been laced into many street drugs so that you don’t know if you’re, you know, consuming fentanyl. It’s very dangerous when it comes in small amounts and is very cheap.”
Yuna Koh, an eighth grader, thinks, “Fentanyl awareness is really important because you need to raise awareness on this really dangerous and serious issue. If you get involved, it’s fatal, and you might risk your life.”
Teacher Sharbach, an eighth grade English teacher and the PEAC teacher addresses that, “A lot of parents and kids think they’ll never be in touch with fentanyl, but unfortunately, it’s everywhere. And even if you think you’re doing a regular drug like marijuana, it can always have fentanyl in it. Which could mean a death sentence. So we do need a lot more information about it.”
To summarize, these winners have worked hard to become the top three for this contest. They’ve put enormous amounts of effort to make sure that the winners can do their part and raise awareness about fentanyl and how it could negatively change your life. It has taken the lives of children, fathers, and mothers for so long, these leaders have realized that these entries might just change someone’s life in a second.
To see the Top 3 winners’ work, you can find them in this video link: https://vimeo.com/927327247#chapter=14843208
