The St. Louis Cardinals have launched the second annual Cardinals High School Student Video Challenge, a youth engagement initiative that offers St. Louis area high school students a unique opportunity to compete for the chance to create a video featuring Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith and Fredbird with the team at the students' school.
"The Cardinals High School Student Video Challenge offers us the chance to team up with students and tap into their imagination and creativity to celebrate the Cardinals in a unique, educational way," said Ron Watermon, Vice President of Communications. "We want students to have fun while learning and show off their school spirit and passion for the St. Louis Cardinals using a technology that is literally transforming how we connect with one another."
The competition is open to students in grades 9-12 that are enrolled in public or private high schools in the St. Louis metropolitan area. To participate, students must work in teams and be sponsored by a teacher from their high school. There is no limit to the number of student teams from a single high school, but each submission must be made by a teacher on behalf of the student team.
The club developed the Cardinals High School Student Video Challenge with EducationPlus, the school district cooperative for the metro area, to promote learning, particularly the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art/Design and Math) curriculum, through communication technology.
"We're thrilled that the St. Louis Cardinals are working again this year with educators in our member districts to get students engaged and excited about learning and baseball," said Dr. Matt Goodman, Interim Executive Director of EducationPlus. "This video challenge provides hands-on learning opportunities for students and gives them a chance to demonstrate what they've learned in a unique format."
Students are asked to develop an original video, no longer than three minutes in length, that promotes the St. Louis Cardinals and the students' high school, includes a STEAM connection and includes roles for both Ozzie and Fredbird.
Students interested in participating in the challenge have until February 17, 2017 to assemble their team, write a script, produce a rough cut of their video using someone from the school standing in for Ozzie and Fredbird and have a teacher submit the video and script to the Cardinals on behalf of the student team. All of the student video submissions will be showcased on cardinals.com.
A team of judges comprised of Cardinals front office staff and employees of EducationPlus will select challenge finalists. Fans will be able to vote online for their favorite student produced rough cut video in order to determine the winner. The winner will be announced on Opening Day in St. Louis (Sunday, April 2). The Cardinals will come to the winning high school in late April with Ozzie, Fredbird and a front office production crew to work directly with the students to produce the final feature video.
In addition to being showcased on the team's website and social media accounts, a portion of the final feature video will be shared at Busch Stadium during an on-field, red carpet premiere prior to a game in June and shown on Cardinals Insider, the club's weekly television show. Students interested in participating in the challenge may learn more at cardinals.com/studentvideochallenge.
The Cardinals High School Student Video Challenge is one of several #CardsFanFlix fan engagement initiatives the team has undertaken recently to encourage fans to create videos that celebrate the St. Louis Cardinals. Last season, hundreds of fans collectively participated in various #CardsFanFlix video engagement promotions which included #PlayBallLikeACardinal, the 2016 Ultimate Fan Video Contest, Yadier Molina's #Made4TheBest Video Contest, the Cardinals Treasure Hunt Video Contest and the team's season-long celebration of Lou Brock, #STLisLou.
Fans can learn more about the #CardsFanFlix video engagement initiatives at cardinals.com/fanflix.