Conrad Weiser Middle School video places in statewide competition
When Dahlia Brant heard her Conrad Weiser Middle School team announced as the third-place winner of the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” Best of PA competition, she thought there was another school starting with the name Conrad that had won.
“Winning third-place was kind of surreal,” said Brant, an eighth-grader at the school. “But when we were on stage, all I could think was that I really could not imagine a more deserving group of people. It was incredible.”
Twenty-two Pennsylvania student teams competed in the statewide competition, created by Allentown’s Manufacturers Resource Center (MRC) in partnership with the Berks Business-Education Coalition, Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center, eMediaWorks and Sahl Communications Inc.
Each team made a video detailing and celebrating manufacturing in their local community. The winners were decided by five judges from across the state, and announced May 18 at the event held at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg. Participating teams competed for first, second and third place awards at the state level, as well as a Viewers Choice award.
Competing for the Berks-Schuylkill Region, Conrad Weiser’s fast-paced video spotlighted F.M. Brown’s Sons of Sinking Spring, and featured an original song written and performed by Brant and fellow eighthgrader Elizabeth Fraser, featuring lyrics: “F.M. Brown, they’ll pick you up when you are down.”
“The process of writing the song was super fun,” Brant said. “The recording of the song was incredibly stressful, however, because we didn’t have any recording software… I just kind of showed up to record and we were like ‘Hey, this is the general idea we have so let’s try to sing these harmonies and hope it doesn’t sound awful.’”
Making the video required several trips to F.M. Brown’s Sons, as well as extensive writing and editing.
At first, Brant was critical of the final recording, but the more time passes, the prouder she is of her work.
“I think it’s safe to say that this project was a real labor of love,” she said.
Conrad Weiser ultimately tied for third place with Bangor Area Middle School.
“The story the students told resonated with the judges because of the soft touches to the video,” said Terri C. Lampe Melcher, MRC business development manager. “From the original song to family memories to having employees sing. Incidentally, employees were asked if anyone wanted to volunteer to sing, and several rather quiet employees surprisingly stepped up and volunteered.”
The purpose of What’s So Cool About Manufacturing is to educate and inspire young people about manufacturing careers.
“Working in the manufacturing field is something I have thought about,” Fraser said. “Even if I don’t work in manufacturing, I have so much appreciation for what they do for our society.”
The teams that competed on the statewide level represented eight regional contests across Pennsylvania and a total of 113 student videos. The Conrad Weiser team had won the Viewers Choice award in the BerksSchuylkill What’s so Cool About Manufacturing competition April 26.
For more information regarding the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing?” Student Video Contest visit: www.WhatsSoCool.org.