Students spotlight sustainability issues in first ‘Green the Feed’ competition

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State students created short videos and infographics to bring attention to the sustainability challenges relevant to their lives. The original content was part of the inaugural “Green the Feed” student social media competition. Sponsored by the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications’ Sustainability Council, the contest encouraged all Penn State students to submit social media posts that highlighted critical sustainability issues facing the University community.

While topics ranged from power consumption to water use to shopping local, the winning entries focused on recycling, the energy demands of artificial intelligence and food waste. A panel of Penn State faculty, staff and graduate students served as judges. Submissions were judged on four primary criteria: accuracy and understanding of the issue, creativity and appeal, relevance to the Penn State community and potential for engagement and shareability.

First Place

Public relations majors Reagan March and Alec Brown submitted short videos on how to recycle. They quizzed classmates in a fun and engaging way on which materials were recyclable and which were not.

A judge on the competition panel wrote, “Love the 'Trash vs Recyclable' concept because it can be confusing. The lead character is engaging and sounds natural. The different items serve as hooks that keep people watching.”

Watch one 'Trash vs Recyclable' video here and another 'Trash vs Recyclable' video here.

Second Place

Advertising majors Joyce Huang and Tara Yasneski chose artificial intelligence (AI) use as their topic. Along with infographics, the students created a fast-paced informational video about the immense energy use of AI and related technologies.

A judge wrote that the videos included in the submission were, “amazing, engaging and extremely well edited, and, most of all, creative.”

Watch the artifiicial intelligence video here.

Third Place

Labor and human resources major Emma Lessick and photojournalism major Jessica Bedol developed videos on a few topics, including food waste and campus electricity use. They also included several infographics with calls to action for involvement.

One judge said, “the interview style engages students naturally in the topic.”

Watch the food waste and campus electricity use videos here.

This was the first year the “Green the Feed” competition was held. Members of the Bellisario College’s Sustainability Council plan to continue the competition in future years to engage students from all campuses and majors in sustainability efforts through creative storytelling.