Student's Video Effective Tool in Responsible Decision-Making

A mass media communications major from Columbia County is this year's winner among students who submitted public-service videosurging intelligent decisions about the use of alcohol and other substances.

Justin D. Wilcottof Bloomsburg was awarded a $300 Circuit City gift card for his winning entry, which is available here in QuickTime and Windows Media formats.

Effectively informing its audience of the cancer-causing chemicals in cigarettes, the 80-second clip shows student actors "consuming" harmful household substancesduring thedaily trigger times at which smokers would indulge their habit.

Bruce E. Huffman, instructor of media arts and video production, who presented the video along with Sharon Waters, director of Counseling, Career and Disability Services, detailed the work involved in such a project.

"You have to think the end at the beginning," he said, explaining that Wilcott needed to envision the final versioneven beforecompiling the elements actors, props, shots, etc. that ultimately were woven into his presentation.

The competition falls under a grant from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board to Counseling, Career and Disability Services to help educate students and encourage them to make responsible decisions.

The winner was chosen by a panel of judges and announced during Thursday's meeting of the College and Community Coalition. The group gathers several times a year in the Bush Campus Center to address education and law-enforcement initiatives regarding alcohol and other drugs.

This is the third such "curriculum infusion" project undertaken to spread the word among students; past efforts have resulted in posters, a calendar and public-service messages broadcast on the Penn College radio station.