Middle school team describes winning video for board

Oil City School Board members heard from the Oil City Middle School News team during Monday’s board meeting.

The team’s video won third place in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” statewide contest.

The students worked together to tell the story about manufacturing in the community by producing a two and a half minute video. The Oil City team was paired with Matric Group for the competition.

“This is an enormous accomplishment to win third place the first year our team competed in the statewide contest. You have the best of the best here, and these kids deserve all the credit,” said Brian Rondinelli, who served as the teacher-coach for the program.

The Oil City team took third place out of the 22 teams that competed in the event. The 22 entrants had all previously won at regional competitions in which 250 teams from across the state participated.

Rondinelli said the students used green screen and other technology to produce and edit the video.

“It was like a Hollywood studio from our vantage point,” Rondinelli said. “Professional editors from the industry gave us feedback. They commented on how professional the video was,” he added.

Middle School principal Joy Zuck praised the students for their dedication and hard work.

The team consists of twin sisters Mackenzie and Makayla Canaan, Sarah Fox, Olivia Vorse, Carley Ames, Memphis Hulver and Shalyn Whittemore.