The students at the Shaw Island School recently won first place in a statewide contest promoting earthquake preparedness and safety. Sponsored by the Cascadia Regional Earthquake Workgroup, the competition solicited videos from schools across Washington.

Timed to promote the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill, this is the second year of the contest and the second year that Shaw has taken home a prize.

It’s not too late for islanders to sign up for Thursday’s ShakeOut exercise at www.shakeout.org/washington.

Some comments from the students:

“We made the video to educate ourselves and other schools about earthquake preparedness. While we created the video we learned more than we expected about earthquakes and what to do in the event of one. We were also able to practice our video-making skills, ranging from creating a storyboard, zeroing in on an idea, editing our footage, and using Adobe Premiere to add captions and other effects,” said Sophia, eighth-grade.

“I think our video won because it clearly stated what is needed in an emergency pack if an earthquake occurred. It also visually and audibly showed the Drop, Cover, and Hold On message and was all in all whimsical, creative, and fun to make,” said sixth-grade student Elena.

“My favorite part of the video is when Elena accidentally got hit in the head with the pot as it got dropped into the backpack,” said Eliana who is in the second-grade.

“The older kids were in charge of the video, but It was exciting that I got to be in it too,” said second-grader Clara.