Pioneer students tackle earthquake menace in first-place video

Jan. 8—Pioneer Junior Senior High School students in Mr. Justice Obeng-Manu's AP Biology class had a surprise over winter break.

A video they made for the 2023 Get ShakIN' competition, sponsored by the Indiana Department of Homeland Security, won first place, beating out 26 other entries.

The videos were focused on earthquake safety and preparation in Indiana.

Obeng-Manu received an email from Superintendent Charles Grable about the competition and he asked his students to participate.

The students approached the task as a fun project, unsure if they could even accomplish making the video in the short time they had before the deadline.

Silas Rouch, a junior, said the idea for the video came from the video game series "Fallout." The series takes place in an alternate 1950s where the world was devastated by nuclear war. Players learn about the game through a series of flickering and grainy black and white videos that parody the old 1950s educational videos shown in classrooms.

The video the class made shows the students sitting at their lab tables and talking when they are interrupted by violent shaking.

The students then proceed to demonstrate safe, and unsafe, ways to act during an earthquake.

Sophomore Hunter Bartling ducked under a lab table and held tight to one of the sturdy table legs. Miley Scott, a sophomore, cowered in a corner of the room, covering her neck and head with her hands. Melia McIntyre, also a sophomore, made the unfortunate mistake of leaving the classroom and running down the stairs. The video cuts to her prone body at the bottom step.

"We were trying to add some light to a grim topic in the most humorous way possible," Rouch said.

Rouch said he thought the use of humor benefitted the class when it came to judging. He said he thought comedy helps keep people interested and also captures viewers' attention. He also thought it helped the class stay interested in the project.

The shaking effects came about thanks to sophomore Cole Franklin, whose broken cell phone produces shaky video no matter how still it's held during recording.

The students filmed the video in one class session. Then Rouch wrote the script in Google Slides, including what he would like to see in the finished edit. He also recorded his lines. Then he sent everything to senior Emma Boucher to piece together.

Boucher had never edited a video before.

"When I got the files, it kind of took a while to match everything up with each scene," she said. "It probably took me two to three hours just trying to put everything together, adding sound effects and making sure (Rouch's) voice aligned."

She used iMovie on an iPad to edit the video and described the process as very frustrating. She added she was proud of herself for figuring out how to edit the video.

Rouch said he was in the middle of playing a video game during winter break when he heard the class had won the video competition.

"Some of those were huge schools," he said. "I cannot believe that we won. I got red in the face and I ran around the entire house telling everyone."

Boucher said after she finished editing the video, she had each family member watch it and tell her if they thought it looked professional.

When she found out they had won best video, she ran back to those family members shouting "guys, I did it! I did it!"

"It's exciting to hear such news," said Obeng-Manu. "One thing that I know is that I believe in them. They have the capabilities. They have the talent. And they are smart."

While the project was fun for everyone involved, Boucher said she was surprised to learn of the potential for earthquakes in Indiana.

In the past 20 years, there have been 19 earthquakes in the state or near state borders, the Indiana Geological & Water Survey at Indiana University reported.

In 2010, a magnitude 3.8 earthquake outside of Kokomo was felt in all four surrounding states.

"I didn't know earthquakes were a risk in Indiana," she said. "But with the research it was kind of crazy to learn that we are at high risk. I didn't even know the procedures of how to act when an earthquake hits."

The video ends with the students acting out different ways to prepare for an earthquake, such as placing heavy objects on lower shelves, gathering supplies and making an emergency plan.

"To be truly ready for the menace known as earthquakes, prepare," Rouch warned viewers.

The video can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/bdtyfup2.