BRUCETON MILLS, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership (SOL) School hosted a film festival at Chestnut Ridge Park and Campground in Bruceton Mills Friday evening to celebrate submissions by some of its students to the National Geographic Slingshot Challenge.

The Mountain SOL worked with around 30 kids aged 13 and up to create short one-minute videos to enter into the challenge with the goal of creating a short video that describes their ideas on how to solve environment-related issues such as cleaning the ocean, reducing waste and addressing climate change.

Event organizers said that the submissions will be considered for prizes up to $10,000 and may be shared with global audiences at events and on social media platforms. 

“A lot of students were already familiar with making films,” Eastern West Virginia Educator for Mountain SOL School Laura Steepleton said. “They make YouTube or TikTok videos. So, they wanted to focus on, we had a lot on pollution in the river and how that can be addressed.”

The mission statement for the Mountain Stewardship and Outdoor Leadership School is to “connect with the outdoor world and cultivate leaders for a just and resilient Appalachia.” Mountain SOL Director Jen Osha Buysse told 12 News that the school also used some of the students’ research on their videos to give back to the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia (ACCA).

“We have all the students one time a week on Thursdays—we call it Mountains SOL Thursdays—and we wanted them to have a way to give back after they’re thinking of all these solutions. So, we worked with the ACCA, and they learned about all these different ambassador birds and they worked throughout the year, learned about them, and then we’ve made a present for every bird. Every ambassador bird that worked with our kids is receiving a present today,” Buysse said.

On top of the competition, the school is also celebrating youth films in the region by hosting Mountain Movies—a celebration of youth films, community, and music—alongside organizations such as National Geographic and the NASA IV&V Facility Education Resource Center.

The National Geographic Society is currently reviewing the 2024 Slingshot Challenge with the winners set to be announced on May 8. On top of a shot at $10,000, winners of the contest will have the opportunity to attend the National Geographic Iconic Explorers Festival in June.