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Video project eyes substance misuse and prevention

By ADAM URQUHART - Staff Writer | May 17, 2018

Adam Urquhart President of United Way of Greater Nashua Mike Apfelberg calls winning high school aged team Purple Panther Ethnic Force to the front of the theater to accept their award.

NASHUA – The Nashua Prevention Coalition hosted a red carpet event Wednesday night, where kids had their substance misuse prevention videos played on the big screen.

For the first time, the coalition had middle- and high-school aged youth create short films spreading positivity, awareness and education about substance misuse as a way of prevention. They had the kids create films, as opposed to spreading the message of “Just say no,” which they’ve found to be ineffective.

Coalition Coordinator Kameo Chasse’ said, “Thank you to the youth for being leaders amongst their peers and for spreading positive messages and perspectives. Your voices, they are valuable, and don’t ever think for a second they don’t matter. Keep standing tall, working hard and believing in yourselves.”

Out of the 15 teams who submitted videos, five teams had theirs shown at Chunky’s Cinema, where a panel of judges then narrowed it down to the top two entries.

Those two teams will have the opportunity to work with Pearl Marketing to create a professional video. Also, President of United Way of Greater Nashua Mike Apfelberg will use one of the videos in a commercial slot at Chunky’s. Apfelberg also was present for the event and helped to pass out awards to the middle and high school team winners.

Nashua Mayor Jim Donchess attended the event as well, and provided an opening welcome where he said Nashua is working very hard on the opioid crisis, the substance abuse crisis. He acknowledged the Safe Stations program, Revive Recovery Center and others working to keep people in recovery.

However, he said, “In the long run, the most important thing is what the Prevention Coalition is doing to stem the tide of opioid abuse, substance abuse, by reaching out to the young people, our students, to educate them, provide resilience training and educate them on why substance misuse is a horrible mistake.”

Kids have been working on this film project since October, before submitting their entries in February. Kids were given a series of positive quotes revolving around leadership, friendship or things of that nature. They then created their videos focusing on how to live by the chosen quote(s). Other than receiving some support from their advisors, these films were entirely youth driven. Themes like anti-bullying, friendship and spreading kindness were apparent in the five films shown. Once all five were shown, judges took a moment to determine the two winners, before Apfelberg called out the winning team names. The winning team for the middle school aged kids is Raiders Care, from Pennichuck Middle School. The team consisted of Team Advisor Alison Bennett and students Caitlyn Mamos, Olivia Waldman, Amber Carle, Dorothy Milam, Alexa Cabrar, Deirdre Chase, Maria Tourlitis, Lillian Azevedo and Milagros Mendez.

The winning team for the high school aged kids is Purple Panther Ethnic Force, from Nashua High School South. The team consisted of Team Advisor Pankaj Kulkarni and students Jai Kulkarni, Jeffrey Lam, Adyant Shankar, Timothy Yang, Nitish Bodicharla and Rubin Zou.

Chasse’ said, “I truly believe it’s young people like you that are going to make a real effective change in this world.”

So, with the first ever film project coming to an end, Chasse’ said they’ll continue the project in the future, every other year, holding their youth summit on the years in between.

Below is a list of teams and kids who had their films shown at the event.

Fairgrounds Middle School –

Falcon Friendship

Laura Labrie – Team Advisor

Miles McClentic

Aiden Purington

Sidney Clifton

Luneiry Monroy

Lydia Primeau

Elm Street Middle School –

Bear Squad

Donna Smith – Team Advisor

Marissa Caterino

Matthew Arpin

Adam Kaplan

Raina Patel

Lauren Landry

Morgan Uzdanovich

Kyleigh McInerney

Pennichuck Middle School –

Raiders Care

Alison Bennett – Team Advisor

Caitlyn Mamos

Olivia Waldman

Amber Carle

Dorothy Milam

Alexa Cabrar

Deirdre Chase

Maria Tourlitis

Lillian Azevedo

Milagros Mendez

Nashua High School South –

Purple Panther Ethnic Force

Pankaj Kulkarni – Team Advisor

Jai Kulkarni

Jeffrey Lam

Adyant Shankar

Timothy Yang

Nitish Bodicharla

Rubin Zou

Bishop Guertin –

Friendship Advocates

(not in attendance at red carpet)

Nicole Adamson – Team Advisor

Grace Wang

Olivia Belleville

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