Lawrence High School Students Win "Make Your Mark" Video Contest Grand Prize

Senator Dean Skelos joined Smithsonian Channel and Optimum to present the grand prize of the "Make Your Mark" video contest to Lawrence High School. The students were awarded $2500 for use in their project that is directed at increasing the number of Lawrence High School graduates attending four-year colleges. The “Make Your Mark” contest was open to all high school students in Optimum’s footprint within the tri-state area. The Smithsonian Channel and Optimum set out to inspire high school students to make a positive mark by submitting an idea to incite change and leave a lasting impression within their school and community. Students were invited to submit a creative and informative two-minute video that explained their “mark,” why it should be chosen, and how their school or community will benefit. They then shared the video (via Facebook or Tweets) with friends and family to earn votes for their project. The winning project submitted by Lawrence students was a plan to arrange for former Lawrence High School students to speak to seniors about the benefits of going to a four-year college. Within the last three graduating classes, just 52% of graduates went on to attend a four-year college. Their goal is to increase that number to 80% by the year 2022 (an annual increase of 4%). They also plan to assist those students who need financial assistance by paying some of their college application fees. Smithsonian Channel Senior Manager Lakeisha McCoy attended the event and spoke to the students about the “Make Your Mark” contest and why Lawrence High School was selected as the winner. Senator Skelos congratulated the students and spoke about the importance of a college education, followed by a viewing of the winning entry. Students discussed their reasons for focusing on encouraging continuing education and former student Nicole Gartner spoke about her college experience. In addition to the $2500 prize, students will also be getting assistance from Cablevision with professionally filming alumni interviews about the importance of their college experiences.

“One can never stress the importance of a college education enough,” said Senator Skelos. “The global economy is becoming increasingly more competitive and in order to give yourself the best chance at a well-paying career, you will need a college degree. There’s no way around that. In that regard, I think the topic of the winning video is timely and important and I congratulate all of the students who were involved in this endeavor. I’d also like to thank Optimum and the Smithsonian Channel for making this available to high school students in the tri-state area.”