Save the Frogs Reflections Video- Fall, 2013
When summer break began to end the school year of 2012-13, my parents and I decided we needed a strategy for the Reflections Contest coming up the next fall, with the theme of "Believe, Dream, Inspire". Froggy and Ally didn't work on the CD, so I was impressed that it went as far as it did. My Diversity film worked, and won 3rd place in the state! But the Magic of the Moment, which was in the same age group and was a huge improvement, remained at the 3rd place for state. So what was I doing wrong? What needed to change?
I don't mean to suggest that there's anything wrong with the impressive feat of getting 3rd place for film in North Carolina. Nor do I mean to say that I really care about what place I get, or that that's the reason I made these videos. But I was just both really confused and curious for the answer as to why I got the same place twice for two films of very different levels. And perhaps more than that, I wanted to get the film as high as I could so that more judges and people could see it. Maybe that's just my way of showing off, but it's true. Wilmington Early College High School (WECHS), the school I would be going to the next year, did not have a Reflections Contest, and for my last video, I wanted it to be memorable.
So we watched the winners of previous years, and realized something. It was not the videos that were the hardest to make, or who put the most effort in, that earned the highest places- it was the ones that were emotional. True, I had been spending tens of hours day after day on all of my films, but they didn't pull at the heart strings like people practicing to win a swimming race, or seeing two children look past each other's differences when adults were judging each other at each glance. So we planned how to make my next video very emotional, and that was to cut back on walking and talking. I was going to make it silent except for emotional songs I created, and have a whole emotional story told through images and music.
So of course, I was going to make it about frogs. I had been learning of all the horrible things that were happening to frogs that year, and how they're dying out at incredibly fast rates (Please click here to find out more). But Mommy and Daddy warned me repeatedly about how frogs weren't going to be as emotional as people, no matter how many times worse their situation was. I knew that, but that wasn't going to stop me. So what if I didn't get first place? It would be the judges' fault, not mine, that they couldn't recognize a good film when they saw it; if they can't appreciate the effort I put in just because they don't care for frogs, so be it. But I was going to try my best to make them love frogs, and encourage people to help save them. And this video could be useful in other instances for getting people to help frogs, too.
I decided to use actual photographs instead of drawing on my own this time, to make it extra original and to hopefully cut down on the time it took to draw everything. That didn't work out so well, because I still had to cut out all the pictures and actually find them, but I think it did make it much more emotional than to see my cartoons. So one scene at a time, image by image by image, I animated the film. I figured out how to video tape my screen, and insert videos into flash for the parts where people were on computers. And I learned some small little tricks in Flash. Most of all, I simply gained experience in Flash that would help me later on.
So I animated and animated, from June to July, July to August, August to September, September to October, and piece by piece the film was put together. Eventually, the animating was done! We went to look at it, and see how long it it took. The film looked great. A little tweaking here and there, and of course adding emotional music, and the film would be great! Except, then we checked the time.
It said 6 minutes 28 seconds. Five minutes is the maximum time.
I was shocked. I had never gotten close to the five minute max. To surpass it by a minute and a half... well, while that may not sound like much, that's a ton of time for an animated film that's only 6 and a half minutes to begin with. So I started finding places I could trim a bit; even a fraction of a second was worth it. Slowly the film began growing shorter, but after looking through the entire film for places to get rid of, it still ended up being 5 minutes 40 seconds. Still way over the maximum time. So I went through it again, cutting out scenes that weren't as important, trimming scenes until whole sections were gotten rid of. There wasn't much I was willing to part with; some I wish I still had. But soon there was nothing else I wanted to get rid of. So I played it again and checked the time. It said: 5 minutes 6 seconds.
Six seconds? I had hardly done anything the second time around because I didn't want to get rid of anything, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that. Motivated, I found a couple places where I could get rid of those six seconds, and the film was nearly complete. The last step was to add some music.
I had been slowly composing the music ever since I planned out the film. Every so often, I would suddenly hear a song in my head, and if I liked it, I would rush to the piano to record it in case I needed it for the film. So by the time the animating was complete, I had already prepared five songs to fit with the different themes of my video. All I had to do was time them to the parts of the film, which was easier than I thought it would be; the scenes lined up pretty well with the lengths of the songs already. After coming up with a couple 5 second tunes to fit in the gaps in between, recording and inserting my songs, the film was complete! All that was left was to convert it to an MOV with the converter Mommy already had on her computer, burn it on a CD, and send it in. I had a last minute idea to turn in two of the songs I had already composed as well, curious about what the judges would think about them.
After nearly five months and about a hundred hours of work, the film was done and sent in. But what happened after I sent in my entry was almost as crucial as the making of the film itself.
I don't mean to suggest that there's anything wrong with the impressive feat of getting 3rd place for film in North Carolina. Nor do I mean to say that I really care about what place I get, or that that's the reason I made these videos. But I was just both really confused and curious for the answer as to why I got the same place twice for two films of very different levels. And perhaps more than that, I wanted to get the film as high as I could so that more judges and people could see it. Maybe that's just my way of showing off, but it's true. Wilmington Early College High School (WECHS), the school I would be going to the next year, did not have a Reflections Contest, and for my last video, I wanted it to be memorable.
So we watched the winners of previous years, and realized something. It was not the videos that were the hardest to make, or who put the most effort in, that earned the highest places- it was the ones that were emotional. True, I had been spending tens of hours day after day on all of my films, but they didn't pull at the heart strings like people practicing to win a swimming race, or seeing two children look past each other's differences when adults were judging each other at each glance. So we planned how to make my next video very emotional, and that was to cut back on walking and talking. I was going to make it silent except for emotional songs I created, and have a whole emotional story told through images and music.
So of course, I was going to make it about frogs. I had been learning of all the horrible things that were happening to frogs that year, and how they're dying out at incredibly fast rates (Please click here to find out more). But Mommy and Daddy warned me repeatedly about how frogs weren't going to be as emotional as people, no matter how many times worse their situation was. I knew that, but that wasn't going to stop me. So what if I didn't get first place? It would be the judges' fault, not mine, that they couldn't recognize a good film when they saw it; if they can't appreciate the effort I put in just because they don't care for frogs, so be it. But I was going to try my best to make them love frogs, and encourage people to help save them. And this video could be useful in other instances for getting people to help frogs, too.
I decided to use actual photographs instead of drawing on my own this time, to make it extra original and to hopefully cut down on the time it took to draw everything. That didn't work out so well, because I still had to cut out all the pictures and actually find them, but I think it did make it much more emotional than to see my cartoons. So one scene at a time, image by image by image, I animated the film. I figured out how to video tape my screen, and insert videos into flash for the parts where people were on computers. And I learned some small little tricks in Flash. Most of all, I simply gained experience in Flash that would help me later on.
So I animated and animated, from June to July, July to August, August to September, September to October, and piece by piece the film was put together. Eventually, the animating was done! We went to look at it, and see how long it it took. The film looked great. A little tweaking here and there, and of course adding emotional music, and the film would be great! Except, then we checked the time.
It said 6 minutes 28 seconds. Five minutes is the maximum time.
I was shocked. I had never gotten close to the five minute max. To surpass it by a minute and a half... well, while that may not sound like much, that's a ton of time for an animated film that's only 6 and a half minutes to begin with. So I started finding places I could trim a bit; even a fraction of a second was worth it. Slowly the film began growing shorter, but after looking through the entire film for places to get rid of, it still ended up being 5 minutes 40 seconds. Still way over the maximum time. So I went through it again, cutting out scenes that weren't as important, trimming scenes until whole sections were gotten rid of. There wasn't much I was willing to part with; some I wish I still had. But soon there was nothing else I wanted to get rid of. So I played it again and checked the time. It said: 5 minutes 6 seconds.
Six seconds? I had hardly done anything the second time around because I didn't want to get rid of anything, so I was pleasantly surprised to hear that. Motivated, I found a couple places where I could get rid of those six seconds, and the film was nearly complete. The last step was to add some music.
I had been slowly composing the music ever since I planned out the film. Every so often, I would suddenly hear a song in my head, and if I liked it, I would rush to the piano to record it in case I needed it for the film. So by the time the animating was complete, I had already prepared five songs to fit with the different themes of my video. All I had to do was time them to the parts of the film, which was easier than I thought it would be; the scenes lined up pretty well with the lengths of the songs already. After coming up with a couple 5 second tunes to fit in the gaps in between, recording and inserting my songs, the film was complete! All that was left was to convert it to an MOV with the converter Mommy already had on her computer, burn it on a CD, and send it in. I had a last minute idea to turn in two of the songs I had already composed as well, curious about what the judges would think about them.
After nearly five months and about a hundred hours of work, the film was done and sent in. But what happened after I sent in my entry was almost as crucial as the making of the film itself.
I don't think I've ever really mentioned the process of the judging for the Reflections Contest, so hopefully this will answer a few questions. To summarize it in one word, it's slow. There are various stages of the reflections contest. County, district, state, and country. I had gotten to state twice in the past, getting third place both times. Why? I went up against people of the same age, using much better skills the second time, against opponents whose entries were not hard to make. This time, I was going to do better. It was my last Reflections, ever, and I gave it my all.
Once again, I got past the county level. They always had a ceremony sometime in February at the Cameron Museum of Art. There was nice foods to eat as appetizers in the main lobby, while we waited for everyone to gather. Then, we would file into the main auditorium, where we would sit and watch a projector, flipping through the winners of Visual Arts and Photography while listening to the winners of the Music Division. Bill Garmin, a kind judge for the County Division that I knew pretty well, pulled me over was I was walking there and whispered to me that my songs, all of them, not just the ones I turned in, would be playing while we sat! I grinned, excited. Earlier, sometime in January, Bill had e-mailed Mommy, curious to hear more of my songs, while I was at school. When I came back, I organized them so she could send them to him. He was a friend, and I was just as interested in his critique as he was in my songs, so we eagerly sent them away. Later that month, also while I was at school, Mommy had visited Bill to tell him about the songs as he listened to them. He liked them all, especially one called Forest Sunset, so I wasn't too very surprised that they would be playing, but I was grateful nonetheless.
This year, some things were different regarding the judging process. They got rid of District level, so that more people got to State level; 30 total from just New Hanover County (where Wilmington is located). Bill Garmin, who was presenting at this event, told the crowd of exactly how the judging worked, to prevent disagreement and anger like there was the year before. Then, he began calling up names. Film and Music were among the last as usual, so it was a while before he called my name. I had gotten 1st place for Film in the Middle School Division. But I was surprised when I had gotten 1st and 2nd places for Music as well. All I did was ship off two songs. Was there no better songs competing? On hindsight, I should have realized that the fact that there was no third place meant that their either wasn't any competition, or any other entries were disqualified. Nevertheless, I think I would have probably won at least 2nd or 3rd anyway.
Then the judge announced the Fourth Annual Heart Award. I was curious who would win that. Seeing as the last two winners were about a teen who would be the first in her family to graduate high school, and a boy who stayed in the Ronald McDonald House and met people with the same cancer his cousin had, the chances of me winning it were close to none. But who would?
Bill Garmin began his speech. I became more intrigued as I heard him use words like "she" and "made her own music" and "film". By the time he said "frog" and "made the website" (In the film, I included a website I had been making for school. You can find it here), I knew who won it. Me. And as he called me up, to brag on my accomplishments, I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear, knowing that making a film on frogs who weren't nearly as emotional to people as people, I had won the award solely based on being emotional.
I wish I could remember word for word what he said in his speech. I thought we had a video of it, honestly, so I didn't try to memorize it. But I'll summarize it, as I remember it vaguely:
He spoke of how a girl had spent over a hundred hours working on her entry. She had made the music, found the photos, and did a lot more than necessary because she cared about this contest and helping frogs. This student, he said, is Jessie Robertson. [He called me up, and I walked to the front next to him, smiling wildly]
He said something like, "Jessie here, has always loved frogs. She loved them so much, that when she was making her entry, she wanted it to be about frogs. See, Jessie had won 3rd place in state twice the last two years. There was even one film before that- in fifth grade, was it?- that was disqualified because the CD didn't work. So Jessie's been doing this a long time. But when she got third place twice in a row, she wanted to figure out, 'How can I do better this year? How can I make a better film?' So she and her family realized that she needed to make something emotional. Now, she knew frogs couldn't compete with people in bad situations, but she was going to do frogs anyway. That's how much she loved frogs.
"Jessie started in the beginning of summer, animating and animating for over a hundred hours. Not only did she animate it, she also had to find all the photos, she made the music, and. . . . what else did you do, Jessie?"
I was a little startled to be addressed. I couldn't remember anything else, so that's what I told him.
He said something along the lines of, "Jessie here is just being modest." That's when J.C. called out, "The website! You made the website!" from where he sat on the front row. Bill continued, "That's right. She made a website about saving frogs too. So now, I would like to show you, Jessie's entry, "Dream, Believe, and Inspire to Save the Frogs."
Bill Garmin walked up to the podium where he pressed a button at the projector. A moment later, my video began playing on the large screen in the front of the room. I stepped aside so people could see the film, when we realized: the music wasn't playing. Generously, instead of continuing, Bill stopped the film, and went to another room to fix it. I sat down next to J. C. again, and talked with Mommy and Daddy and J. C. at how great all this was excitedly. Then we turned to find my video playing, much more touching now that it had music, and everyone watched with nearly full attention.
After it was over, Bill called me up again. I got a huge round of applause, and some people even stood up! He handed me my award- a certificate encased in a gold frame!- and a folder, which he said contained $100 in cash for me to spend as I pleased. Everyone clapped as I walked back to my seat, and handed the awards to Mommy to hold them for. Bill Garmin had a short ending speech, and when the ceremony was over, people came to talk to me, congratulate me, and even told me they wanted to donate money to help frogs! Mr. Highsmith, my principal, wanted to take a picture with me, and Bill Garmin thanked me himself. It was wonderful. The whole family was glowing with excitement all night, and it was probably one of the best days I've ever had.
Now, as long as this story has gotten, there's even more to it. Read below to hear the rest.
Once again, I got past the county level. They always had a ceremony sometime in February at the Cameron Museum of Art. There was nice foods to eat as appetizers in the main lobby, while we waited for everyone to gather. Then, we would file into the main auditorium, where we would sit and watch a projector, flipping through the winners of Visual Arts and Photography while listening to the winners of the Music Division. Bill Garmin, a kind judge for the County Division that I knew pretty well, pulled me over was I was walking there and whispered to me that my songs, all of them, not just the ones I turned in, would be playing while we sat! I grinned, excited. Earlier, sometime in January, Bill had e-mailed Mommy, curious to hear more of my songs, while I was at school. When I came back, I organized them so she could send them to him. He was a friend, and I was just as interested in his critique as he was in my songs, so we eagerly sent them away. Later that month, also while I was at school, Mommy had visited Bill to tell him about the songs as he listened to them. He liked them all, especially one called Forest Sunset, so I wasn't too very surprised that they would be playing, but I was grateful nonetheless.
This year, some things were different regarding the judging process. They got rid of District level, so that more people got to State level; 30 total from just New Hanover County (where Wilmington is located). Bill Garmin, who was presenting at this event, told the crowd of exactly how the judging worked, to prevent disagreement and anger like there was the year before. Then, he began calling up names. Film and Music were among the last as usual, so it was a while before he called my name. I had gotten 1st place for Film in the Middle School Division. But I was surprised when I had gotten 1st and 2nd places for Music as well. All I did was ship off two songs. Was there no better songs competing? On hindsight, I should have realized that the fact that there was no third place meant that their either wasn't any competition, or any other entries were disqualified. Nevertheless, I think I would have probably won at least 2nd or 3rd anyway.
Then the judge announced the Fourth Annual Heart Award. I was curious who would win that. Seeing as the last two winners were about a teen who would be the first in her family to graduate high school, and a boy who stayed in the Ronald McDonald House and met people with the same cancer his cousin had, the chances of me winning it were close to none. But who would?
Bill Garmin began his speech. I became more intrigued as I heard him use words like "she" and "made her own music" and "film". By the time he said "frog" and "made the website" (In the film, I included a website I had been making for school. You can find it here), I knew who won it. Me. And as he called me up, to brag on my accomplishments, I couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear, knowing that making a film on frogs who weren't nearly as emotional to people as people, I had won the award solely based on being emotional.
I wish I could remember word for word what he said in his speech. I thought we had a video of it, honestly, so I didn't try to memorize it. But I'll summarize it, as I remember it vaguely:
He spoke of how a girl had spent over a hundred hours working on her entry. She had made the music, found the photos, and did a lot more than necessary because she cared about this contest and helping frogs. This student, he said, is Jessie Robertson. [He called me up, and I walked to the front next to him, smiling wildly]
He said something like, "Jessie here, has always loved frogs. She loved them so much, that when she was making her entry, she wanted it to be about frogs. See, Jessie had won 3rd place in state twice the last two years. There was even one film before that- in fifth grade, was it?- that was disqualified because the CD didn't work. So Jessie's been doing this a long time. But when she got third place twice in a row, she wanted to figure out, 'How can I do better this year? How can I make a better film?' So she and her family realized that she needed to make something emotional. Now, she knew frogs couldn't compete with people in bad situations, but she was going to do frogs anyway. That's how much she loved frogs.
"Jessie started in the beginning of summer, animating and animating for over a hundred hours. Not only did she animate it, she also had to find all the photos, she made the music, and. . . . what else did you do, Jessie?"
I was a little startled to be addressed. I couldn't remember anything else, so that's what I told him.
He said something along the lines of, "Jessie here is just being modest." That's when J.C. called out, "The website! You made the website!" from where he sat on the front row. Bill continued, "That's right. She made a website about saving frogs too. So now, I would like to show you, Jessie's entry, "Dream, Believe, and Inspire to Save the Frogs."
Bill Garmin walked up to the podium where he pressed a button at the projector. A moment later, my video began playing on the large screen in the front of the room. I stepped aside so people could see the film, when we realized: the music wasn't playing. Generously, instead of continuing, Bill stopped the film, and went to another room to fix it. I sat down next to J. C. again, and talked with Mommy and Daddy and J. C. at how great all this was excitedly. Then we turned to find my video playing, much more touching now that it had music, and everyone watched with nearly full attention.
After it was over, Bill called me up again. I got a huge round of applause, and some people even stood up! He handed me my award- a certificate encased in a gold frame!- and a folder, which he said contained $100 in cash for me to spend as I pleased. Everyone clapped as I walked back to my seat, and handed the awards to Mommy to hold them for. Bill Garmin had a short ending speech, and when the ceremony was over, people came to talk to me, congratulate me, and even told me they wanted to donate money to help frogs! Mr. Highsmith, my principal, wanted to take a picture with me, and Bill Garmin thanked me himself. It was wonderful. The whole family was glowing with excitement all night, and it was probably one of the best days I've ever had.
Now, as long as this story has gotten, there's even more to it. Read below to hear the rest.
Principle Highsmith and me at Top Left, Bill Garmin and I in Bottom Left, Awards on Right
The whole County Award Ceremony was amazing, but it wasn't the end to this long adventure. The Myrtle Grove art teacher, Ms. Spencer, had recommended me to enter my video into the Scholastic Art Contest, early that year, so after restlessly animating the film and entering it into the Reflections Contest, all I had left to do was to focus on that. Scholastic is great because it has tons of small sections that are judged specifically. For instance, there is a film and animation category, which means that instead of parents who supposedly have experience in the area, I’m judged by professionals who are looking much closer at animations, and actually understand how difficult it is. So I tweaked my video a little to fit the requirements of the Scholastic Art Contest, and soon, I turned that in as well. Why not get as much use out of the hundred-hour project as I could?
As I waited and waited for the Scholastic judges to begin grading my entry, the Reflections state judging was finally revealed. I sat during school as the morning announcements came on, stating that they would list who won at state. I waited for my name to be called, sure that I would get a place, and hoping that it would be second or first. And. . . I never heard my name. I was surprised; had I misheard? How could I have not gotten a place, when I had done so on two previous videos, which were much less emotional and professional? Mommy picked me up from school that day, and I asked her if she knew anything about it. But she said sadly that I didn’t get a place. None of us understood why. There was no good reason. The judges obviously ruled me out because they either thought something I did should disqualify me (which should not have happened, as we made it past county and followed all the rules), or more likely, completely didn’t understand the difficulties of animation. What I wonder is, even if they thought animating was easy, I thought the storyline alone should have beat 3rd or 2nd places.
It was unfair they judged based over their opinions on what looks best over effort, but that is life, and I understand that. I was a little disappointed, but got over it quickly. So what? I didn’t really care about getting a place; I just wanted to improve from last year, and I did. People told Mommy that they were saving frogs they found around their houses because of my video, and people told me they wanted to donate to help save frogs now. It was more than I could hope for. So what if the judges don’t care about that? Quite honestly, it’s only the judges who are missing out if they can’t recognize a video with as much heart and effort as mine; it doesn’t cost me a thing. Just because I work hard does not mean I can expect everyone to respect my efforts, and I got as much respect as I could have hoped for during the County Award Ceremony. I still had a wonderful video that had actually done some real good. And the video was in the Scholastic Contest, so who knew what would happen with that?
The whole family was a little annoyed at the whole thing for a couple days, but we knew it was a still wonderful film, and that’s all that mattered. As the weeks passed, it was announced that I had won the Gold Key at the Scholastic Contest. I’m not entirely sure how their whole judging process works, but I think it goes like this. There are two levels of judging. If you make it past the regional level, you earn a Gold Key award. If you get past the national level, you get the Golden Medal. I know you can earn scholarship money, at both regional and national levels. While I didn't (and still don’t) understand the details, I knew that to get an award from as big a company as Scholastic, while going against other animators, was big. I expected to get a Golden Key, and I’m glad I did, but I doubted I would get any further.
That was indeed the case. I did not get an award at the national level, but that’s okay. At least the people who beat me actually had better work than I did, which is more than I could say for the Reflection entries. Nevertheless, that was not the end of the awards.
You see, at the end of every school year at Myrtle Grove Middle School, there is an award ceremony. I won a few awards for academics, but there were two in particular that were won for this one video. One award was given to me by Ms. Nowell, the AIG Language Arts teacher I’d had for the past 3 years, who awarded me for having gotten past the Reflections county level with my three entries. She was in charge of the Reflections Contest at Myrtle Grove, and she had always been my favorite teacher. So when Ms. Nowell came up to give out awards, she began by listing out who had received any awards for the Reflection Contest. She called my name first, and I walked up to receive a medal and a hug from my favorite teacher. Unfortunately, Ms. Nowell mixed up the judging, and said I had gone to district with my film and two songs, instead of state (Not to mention failing to recognize that Natalie, one of my closest friends, had done the same with her two poems). But regardless of what she said, everyone knew what she meant, and I appreciated the thought of it all the same. I sat back at my seat, grateful not for the medal, but for the cheerfulness Ms. Nowell had in her voice as she awarded me.
The second award was even more special. Ms. Spencer, who I hadn't even had as a teacher that year, gave a small speech about me, and gave me the awards I had earned from the Scholastic Contest. Fortunately Mommy was able to video tape this scene, so I can give you a word for word transcript of what Ms. Spencer said:
“Okay. I always want to save something special for last. This young lady has been at our school, but she’s only been in my class for two years. But she is always working on art. Since I've known her in 6th grade, one of her passions was drawing frogs. And we had done something in sixth grade where she drew all these frogs, and all the details of them and the stories, and she’s an extremely gifted student, and it’s not just in the visual arts. She played the piano, she could orchestrate her own music, and she has done some amazing things.
“Well this year, she had wanted to enter into the Scholastic. We have Scholastic every year, and we have some great awards that are often given out. She had submitted her actual film this year, which was about frogs, and it had music to it and was amazing, and she received the highest honor she could get. She received a Gold Key, and her work got sent on to New York City. So she’s getting two parts of an award today, not just being honored by a Gold Key, which is one of the highest standards you can have through Scholastic at Barton College. And this goes to Jessie Robertson.”
Flattered, I squeezed through the rows of my peers as everyone in the room cheered. Ms. Spencer handed me a certificate encased in a shiny golden frame, the Gold Key Award. She hugged me a little and whispered at me to stay instead of returning to my seat. Then she continued:
“Now I just told Jessie she can’t go anywhere because she’s getting something else. She does get a little Gold Key, which I’m going to give her separately, but when I open this up- [She backtracked to explain]
“In my five years of being here, we have received several times college scholarships that were awarded for eighth graders from Barton College, and they only give these out to artists who have worked very hard, because we have gotten Gold Keys before, and they don’t always get college scholarships. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. If they’re sent on to New York City with their work, they often do. The highest amount that they've ever awarded to an eighth grader for college scholarship was $500. This year, Scholastic Art Awards from Eastern Central North Carolina Region, is awarding Jessica Robertson a $1000 Barton College scholarship.”
Ms. Spencer hugged me once again, and handed me a Barton College folder containing the $1000 Barton College scholarship. I thanked her and left back to my seat, surrounded by grins and applauds. It was wonderful. Five awards for one video? I couldn't have hoped for more.
I hope the film inspires you to help frogs as well. Please go to savethefrogs.com, or my own website, helpingthefrogs.weebly.com, to learn more and help. I am amazed how well the video turned out and how much others loved it, and I hope you enjoy the video as well!
As I waited and waited for the Scholastic judges to begin grading my entry, the Reflections state judging was finally revealed. I sat during school as the morning announcements came on, stating that they would list who won at state. I waited for my name to be called, sure that I would get a place, and hoping that it would be second or first. And. . . I never heard my name. I was surprised; had I misheard? How could I have not gotten a place, when I had done so on two previous videos, which were much less emotional and professional? Mommy picked me up from school that day, and I asked her if she knew anything about it. But she said sadly that I didn’t get a place. None of us understood why. There was no good reason. The judges obviously ruled me out because they either thought something I did should disqualify me (which should not have happened, as we made it past county and followed all the rules), or more likely, completely didn’t understand the difficulties of animation. What I wonder is, even if they thought animating was easy, I thought the storyline alone should have beat 3rd or 2nd places.
It was unfair they judged based over their opinions on what looks best over effort, but that is life, and I understand that. I was a little disappointed, but got over it quickly. So what? I didn’t really care about getting a place; I just wanted to improve from last year, and I did. People told Mommy that they were saving frogs they found around their houses because of my video, and people told me they wanted to donate to help save frogs now. It was more than I could hope for. So what if the judges don’t care about that? Quite honestly, it’s only the judges who are missing out if they can’t recognize a video with as much heart and effort as mine; it doesn’t cost me a thing. Just because I work hard does not mean I can expect everyone to respect my efforts, and I got as much respect as I could have hoped for during the County Award Ceremony. I still had a wonderful video that had actually done some real good. And the video was in the Scholastic Contest, so who knew what would happen with that?
The whole family was a little annoyed at the whole thing for a couple days, but we knew it was a still wonderful film, and that’s all that mattered. As the weeks passed, it was announced that I had won the Gold Key at the Scholastic Contest. I’m not entirely sure how their whole judging process works, but I think it goes like this. There are two levels of judging. If you make it past the regional level, you earn a Gold Key award. If you get past the national level, you get the Golden Medal. I know you can earn scholarship money, at both regional and national levels. While I didn't (and still don’t) understand the details, I knew that to get an award from as big a company as Scholastic, while going against other animators, was big. I expected to get a Golden Key, and I’m glad I did, but I doubted I would get any further.
That was indeed the case. I did not get an award at the national level, but that’s okay. At least the people who beat me actually had better work than I did, which is more than I could say for the Reflection entries. Nevertheless, that was not the end of the awards.
You see, at the end of every school year at Myrtle Grove Middle School, there is an award ceremony. I won a few awards for academics, but there were two in particular that were won for this one video. One award was given to me by Ms. Nowell, the AIG Language Arts teacher I’d had for the past 3 years, who awarded me for having gotten past the Reflections county level with my three entries. She was in charge of the Reflections Contest at Myrtle Grove, and she had always been my favorite teacher. So when Ms. Nowell came up to give out awards, she began by listing out who had received any awards for the Reflection Contest. She called my name first, and I walked up to receive a medal and a hug from my favorite teacher. Unfortunately, Ms. Nowell mixed up the judging, and said I had gone to district with my film and two songs, instead of state (Not to mention failing to recognize that Natalie, one of my closest friends, had done the same with her two poems). But regardless of what she said, everyone knew what she meant, and I appreciated the thought of it all the same. I sat back at my seat, grateful not for the medal, but for the cheerfulness Ms. Nowell had in her voice as she awarded me.
The second award was even more special. Ms. Spencer, who I hadn't even had as a teacher that year, gave a small speech about me, and gave me the awards I had earned from the Scholastic Contest. Fortunately Mommy was able to video tape this scene, so I can give you a word for word transcript of what Ms. Spencer said:
“Okay. I always want to save something special for last. This young lady has been at our school, but she’s only been in my class for two years. But she is always working on art. Since I've known her in 6th grade, one of her passions was drawing frogs. And we had done something in sixth grade where she drew all these frogs, and all the details of them and the stories, and she’s an extremely gifted student, and it’s not just in the visual arts. She played the piano, she could orchestrate her own music, and she has done some amazing things.
“Well this year, she had wanted to enter into the Scholastic. We have Scholastic every year, and we have some great awards that are often given out. She had submitted her actual film this year, which was about frogs, and it had music to it and was amazing, and she received the highest honor she could get. She received a Gold Key, and her work got sent on to New York City. So she’s getting two parts of an award today, not just being honored by a Gold Key, which is one of the highest standards you can have through Scholastic at Barton College. And this goes to Jessie Robertson.”
Flattered, I squeezed through the rows of my peers as everyone in the room cheered. Ms. Spencer handed me a certificate encased in a shiny golden frame, the Gold Key Award. She hugged me a little and whispered at me to stay instead of returning to my seat. Then she continued:
“Now I just told Jessie she can’t go anywhere because she’s getting something else. She does get a little Gold Key, which I’m going to give her separately, but when I open this up- [She backtracked to explain]
“In my five years of being here, we have received several times college scholarships that were awarded for eighth graders from Barton College, and they only give these out to artists who have worked very hard, because we have gotten Gold Keys before, and they don’t always get college scholarships. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. If they’re sent on to New York City with their work, they often do. The highest amount that they've ever awarded to an eighth grader for college scholarship was $500. This year, Scholastic Art Awards from Eastern Central North Carolina Region, is awarding Jessica Robertson a $1000 Barton College scholarship.”
Ms. Spencer hugged me once again, and handed me a Barton College folder containing the $1000 Barton College scholarship. I thanked her and left back to my seat, surrounded by grins and applauds. It was wonderful. Five awards for one video? I couldn't have hoped for more.
I hope the film inspires you to help frogs as well. Please go to savethefrogs.com, or my own website, helpingthefrogs.weebly.com, to learn more and help. I am amazed how well the video turned out and how much others loved it, and I hope you enjoy the video as well!
Ms. Spencer and me at Top Left, Ms. Nowell and I in Bottom Left, Awards on Bottom