- Massachusetts Department of Transportation
Media Contact
Jacquelyn Goddard, Director of Communications, MassDOT
BOSTON — The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) is announcing the winners of this year’s statewide Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest. This year, submissions were received from high schools across Massachusetts and six finalists’ videos were chosen to be screened during MassDOT’s 2024 Moving Together Conference, held this afternoon. The contest began in 2014 and encourages high school students to showcase their understanding of roadway safety across all travel modes to promote efforts to decrease pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities. This year, for the eleventh annual contest, the students were asked to write and produce a video emphasizing “Empathy at the Intersection.”
“The Safe Streets Smart Trips video contest gives young and passionate filmmakers the chance to educate a wide audience of road users on safety,” said Transportation Secretary and CEO Monica Tibbits-Nutt. “We are thrilled to recognize this year’s contest winners whose creative work embodies the idea of ‘Empathy at the Intersection’, reminding us to consider the diverse experiences of all road users. Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to everyone who participated and helped to amplify the importance of empathy.”
As an initiative of the Massachusetts Strategic Highway Safety Plan to promote safe walking, bicycling and driving behaviors, the contest is open to all Massachusetts public high school students and features a Freshman/Sophomore category and Junior/Senior category.
The “Empathy at the Intersection” concept was created by MassDOT to draw attention to the various lived realities of road users, and it was on full display at the Empathy at the Intersection experiential exhibit at MassDOT’s 2024 Transportation Innovation Conference in Worcester, where attendees stepped back from their own commute and participated in different hands-on activities, to experience how vulnerable road users navigate streets.
The prize award categories and high school recipients are as follows:
Grand Prize
Freshman/Sophomore category: Ryan Costello, Yossi Danzig, Parker Durken, and Sasha Selivan, from Newton North High School.
Video title: “See People as People”
Junior/Senior category: Nadia Lubowicki, Lilianna Gonzalez, Stevie Hughes, Kelley Graves, and Aidan Spofford, from Burncoat High School (Worcester).
Video title: "E.M.P.A.T.H.Y.”
Runners-up
Freshman/Sophomore category: Levi Rosenberg-Van Gameren, John Akgun, Gus Gregg Rodriguez, Will Hartzog, and Cillian Moroney, from Newton North High School.
Video title: "I Give You the Wheel”
Junior/Senior category: Ryan Mabardi, Olivia Walton, Thomas Stefanopoulos, Victoria de Souza, and Jonathan Malerba, from Medford Vocational Technical High School.
Video title: "Empathy on the Road”
Honorable Mention
Freshman/Sophomore category: Bryce Clancy, Ava Arruda, and Anna Spinelli, from Dartmouth High School.
Video title: "Buckle, Watch, & Cross”
Junior/Senior category: Molly Bell and Percy Nadeau, from Dartmouth High School.
Video title: "Empathy on the Road”
This year’s winners were selected as grand prize, runner-up, and honorable mention videos in each category (Freshman/Sophomore and Junior/Senior) by a MassDOT panel. Video creators received prizes including $600 Amazon gift cards for the grand prize videos and $300 Amazon gift cards for the runner-up videos. Top videos may also be featured in future safety campaigns.
The videos will be posted and available to view on the Roadway Safety Video Contest Results page.
To learn more about the Safe Streets Smart Trips high school video contest visit Mass.gov/roadway-safety-video or call 857-383-3807.
MassDOT’s 2024 Moving Together Conference was held in-person and virtually. The purpose of the conference was to share transportation best practices and present topical issues including climate resiliency, expanding mobility and multimodal infrastructure, improving active transportation for schools, and showcasing new technology and equipment.
For transportation news and updates visit www.Mass.gov/massdot or follow MassDOT on X/Twitter at www.twitter.com/massdot.
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