Illinois Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon came to Lake Zurich High School on Friday to honor four students who won the No More Teen Dating Abuse contest, sponsored by Verizon and coordinated by the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ILCADV).
The students--sophomores Kasia Konsor, Kati Stavropoulos and Amanda Buckstaff, and senior Ian Hesch--won iPads for making the winning video and the school won $1,000.
The ultimate winner could be our culture, according to Simon.
“What you are working on is changing our culture. It takes all of us to make that cultural change,” Simon said.
ICADV Chief Executive Officer Vickie Smith said the purpose of the contest was to create a video about healthy teen dating relationships.
“I am asked every day ‘how do we stop domestic violence?’ The way to stop is by educating about healthy relationships,” Smith said. She added that Illinois had 63 domestic violence murders between July 2011 and July 2012. “We don’t want to hear about this anymore,” she said.
Kasia Konsor created the concept for the 30-second video. She said she wanted to show a relationship in reverse. “At the beginning you don’t see where it is headed. We take a step back and look at in reverse,” she said.
Simon told the students she was impressed with the video because it was direct and emotional.
“It’s a tiny space in which to get a message across, but you puilled it off,” Simon said.
