Students at Sherwood, Parkrose, Lincoln, Cleveland, and Bend Senior high schools have earned top prizes in a media contest designed to increase awareness about workplace safety and health for young workers.
High school students across Oregon were invited to participate in the annual contest organized by the Oregon Young Employee Safety (O[yes]) Coalition. The 2024-25 contest challenged participants to create an ad – through either a compelling graphic design or video – that garnered their peers’ attention and convinced them to take the O[yes] Young Employee Safety Awareness online training.
Participants got to choose the key message, theme, or tagline they believed would capture their audience and prompt it to act. Participants were asked to submit either a graphic design or a video that was no more than 90 seconds long.
Students rose to the challenge, creating smart, funny, and positive media projects. In skillful and engaging videos, and catchy and colorful graphic designs, students called attention to everything from making safety and health a top priority to the importance of recognizing and preventing hazards. Their projects focused on convincing their target audience – teen workers or teens who are preparing to work for the first time – to take the O[yes] Young Employee Safety Awareness online training to improve their knowledge of how to stay safe and healthy in the workplace.
The top winners in each category were:
Video:
-First place: Kolbe Johnson, Sherwood High School (Sherwood), “Say Oh Yes to O[yes]” ($500)
-Second: Riley Clare, Parkrose High School (Portland), “Hazards Attack” ($400)
-Third: Audrey Finkelstein, Lincoln High School (Portland), “O[No]” ($300)
-Finalists: Ryan Staben, Crescent Valley High School (Corvallis), “The Bucket”; Tristan Sexton, McNary High School (Keizer), “O[yes] On Site”; Lauren Nelson, McLoughlin High School (Milton-Freewater), “Mark’s New Job”; Alondra Joaquin, McLoughlin High School (Milton-Freewater), “Lola Needs Help!”
Graphic design:
-First place: Cipriano Johnson, Cleveland High School (Portland), “Safety Comes First” ($500)
-Second place: Ben Kaufman, Cleveland High School (Portland), “Be Safe” ($400)
-Third place: Kruz Najera, Bend Senior High School (Bend), “Symbols of Safety” ($300) -Finalists: Kenneth McCabe, Cleveland High School (Portland), “Entering the Workforce?”; Kolbe Johnson, Sherwood High School (Sherwood), “DO NOT READ!”
The first-place winners in each category also earned a matching award for their schools.
Check out the submissions from the winners and finalists on the (O[yes]) website, where you will also find videos of the contestants discussing their media projects.
The mission of (O[yes]) is to prevent injuries and illnesses, and promote well-being to young workers. The nonprofit does this through outreach, advocacy, and sharing resources with young workers, educators, employers, parents, and labor organizations.
The contest sponsors were the Oregon chapters of the American Association of Safety Professionals, Construction Safety Summit, Central Oregon Safety and Health Association, Hoffman Construction, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Oregon OSHA, SHARP Alliance, SafeBuild Alliance, and SAIF Corporation.
This story is based on submitted information and has not been verified by our news team.
This article appears in Source Weekly May 8, 2025.
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