Ottoville students ‘kick butts’ in video

By Mike Ford, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Saturday, March 22, 2008 (5 months, 1 week ago)
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OTTOVILLE — When students show great interest and enthusiasm for their schoolwork, educators become just as enthusiastic. Such was the case this year when curriculum at Ottoville High School was expanded to accommodate two seniors whose work has been recognized by a statewide organization.
Jason Nussbaum and Joe Schnipke enrolled in the video class last year under the direction of teacher Brian Bennett. Because the two did so well, a second course was created. As a result, the students ushered the school in to the American Lung Association of Ohio’s anti-smoking video contest, “Kick Some Butts.”
“I’m very proud of Jason and Joe. I’ve had them in class since they were in eighth grade with basic computers; then, when they were freshmen I had them for advanced computers. Throughout their high school careers, I’ve had them as teacher’s aides. Technology and computers is something they’ve been interested in . In their junior year, they took the video class and when I got them in there, they were very interested in movies and special effects.
“They excelled at it and I told them it would be nice to have them back again because it would be great to have them do a senior video. We talked about creating a Video II course with the guidance counselor and principal and they said to go for it,” Bennett said.
Now that the district has the advanced course, the school can now compete in the contest. Schnipke and Nussbaum didn’t place in the top 10 but did receive the Larry Hanneman Award and will accept it at an April 2 ceremony in Norwalk.
“We got some other seniors to name off the ingredients in cigarettes and Joe stood in front of a blue screen with superimposed pictures of what a lung looks like with cancer. We also showed pictures of the esophagus and mouth,” Nussbaum said.
The 30-second spot was produced in a week and a half after interviews were conducted to find straight-faced students who appear in the beginning of the video, each naming off an ingredient.
“We did some research and interviewed kids to see who could keep a straight face. Joe did the acting and I was behind the camera, did the editing and put everything in the computer,” Nussbaum said.
Anti-smoking is the second social cause the two have targeted with video production. The first encouraged students to not drink and drive.
“We’ve always enjoyed doing public service announcements. Last year, we did a drunk driving one just to get awareness out there but we didn’t enter that in any contest or anything,” Schnipke said.
As the two prepare for graduation, Nussbaum plans to study industrial engineering and Schnipke will focus on accounting in college.

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