La Quinta Students Win Statewide Mental Health Awareness Video Competition

• Thursday, August 13, 2020

Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD) students from La Quinta High School created and produced a mental health awareness video that has been selected for the OC Health Care Agency’s (HCA) suicide prevention campaign to be aired as a 30-second television commercial on Fox Sports West.

HCA partnered with Angels Baseball to promote suicide prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of the campaign, HCA selected the video created by La Quinta High School students to be featured as a commercial during Angels baseball games on Fox Sports West.

The animated video, titled “An Audience of One,” was originally produced by creative writing students Alexa Wright, Kayla Nguyen, Keanu Hua, Brian Ly and their teacher Amanda LaPera as part of the California Mental Health Services Authority’s “Each Mind Matters’ Directing Change” program. The commercial is a powerful Public Service Announcement created for students, family members and friends to promote suicide prevention and awareness.

“GGUSD students are passionate about mental health and they are continuously coming up with creative ways to bring awareness to mental health issues,” said GGUSD Board of Education Trustee Bob Harden. “We are so thrilled that their video will be aired on television as these are the next generation of leaders and advocates in the movement to end the stigma associated with mental health issues.”

The video had previously placed first in the animated shorts category of the 2020 Each Mind Matters Directing Change program statewide video competition. The team of students also earned first place in California Directing Change Contest in the Animated Short Category, both Artistic Nonfiction High School and the Global One Special Award categories in 54th Annual California Student Media Festival, and  first place in the National AAS Directing Change Contest in the Animated Short Category.

Click here to view the video, which has been slightly modified for broadcast. 

 

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