BY VAISHALI TOURANI
Staff Writer

When the bioswale, or rain garden, was built outside of Baldwin High School earlier this year, many students did not pay much attention.

However, junior Jill Weida decided to make something of the new creation. Her project would eventually win her several awards and recognition.

With the help of cameras and a few people, Weida created a short film regarding the bioswale, Closing the Floodgates: Building the Baldwin Bioswale.

Weida entered the mini documentary into the i5 Digital Video Competition, a program of the Chevron Center for STEM Education and Career Development.

The prompt for this year’s contest was to create a video that related to one’s life. In this case, Weida decided to make the video on the bioswale knowing the positive effect the rain garden would have.

“The video tells the story of the bioswale and how it was built for the purpose of reducing flooding in heavily dense areas,” Weida said.

Making the five-minute video was not a simple task, however. It took a total of six months to complete, with Weida beginning the process in October 2013.

“I had class time to work on it, but with school work and the process of filming and editing, it took a long time,” Weida said.

For Weida, the time was worth it. Weida won three awards with her bioswale video – best storytelling, viewer’s choice, and the grand prize at the Carnegie Science Center.

The prizes included three trophies, one of which Weida gave to Baldwin High.

The victories came as a surprise to Weida. “It was a complete shock,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win at all.”

Baldwin video production teacher Chris Ross expressed his excitement for Weida.

“I wasn’t surprised when I found out she took home the biggest prize. My expectations for her success were high,” Ross said. “She’s self-motivated. That alone was enough to drive her to make the video.”

Ross had Weida as a student for Video II, and she is a member of the school’s video club.

“Her work ethic is what made a video project of this magnitude possible. Her film is pretty noteworthy,” Ross said.

Since the fourth grade, Weida has loved filmmaking.

“I just love having a fun way I can tell a story. I have complete creative control,” she said.

Weida plans to study filmmaking a year from now in college.

“It’s a risk, but a risk I’m willing to take,” she said.