2025 Youth Video Contest
Communities that Care of Greater Downingtown (CTC) is thrilled to announce its 5th annual alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) prevention youth video contest winners. All 7th - 12th grade youth who live in the Downingtown Area School District were invited to create a motivational video message to share a few things they would like adults in their life to know about being a teen in today’s world related to ATOD use, mental health, or school/student life.
A group of four youth, Anush Vadla (9th Grade), Ethan Szoke (9th Grade), Gabby Leonmelo (12th Grade), & Siddharth Macherla (9th Grade), won first prize in the video contest for their informative video which showcased how youth are feeling in today's world and what they need from adults in their lives. The second place winner, Quinn Staszowski (8th Grade), created a video which discussed how parents can impact their children's choices with drugs and alcohol - and how these influences can be helpful or hurtful to youth depending on what they see their parents doing on a daily basis.
The video contest winners will each receive a cash prize, ranging up to $250.00, and will be featured on CTC of Greater Downingtown's social media channels. In addition, the 1st place winners also received 4 tickets to the Philadelphia Phillies home game on Tuesday, April, 29, 2025.
CTC of Greater Downingtown knows that most youth do NOT use drugs and alcohol and they wish to celebrate that through this video contest. The Downingtown Area School District Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) data supports this statement as 88.8% of DASD youth said that they had not used alcohol in the past 30 days and 94.1% said that they had not used marijuana in the past 30 days (PAYS 2023).