Fentanyl, opioid awareness video contest shows impact of the drug epidemic on county youth

A group of students from Watkins Mill High School won top prize for their entry

December 20, 2023 4:36 p.m.

After their friend’s brother recently died of an overdose, a group of Watkins Mill High School students decided to create a video PSA about the dangers of fentanyl and submit it to the Speak Up, Save a Life student video contest.

The students, Jabea Ewane, Thomas Pettit and Steven Santiago, secured first place in the contest and were awarded a $1,000 prize for their PSA titled, “Dangers of Fentanyl – Forever 16.” Their video depicts the ghost of a teen recalling the incident in which he took molly, or MDMA (unknowingly laced with fentanyl) from a friend to “not look lame,” and never woke up.

“Breathing became really hard, and a while after I took it I was going in and out of consciousness. I felt numb and cold. Eventually, I passed out and I never woke up,” the ghost of the teen said. “It happened two years ago when I was 16, and I’m still 16.”

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The video contest was started by the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office in the fall to promote awareness of the dangers of opioid abuse, fentanyl and overdose among teens and children.

On Saturday, MCPS students organized the Save a Student Summit at Gaithersburg High School where the winners of the video contest were announced, and students received Narcan training.

According to Lauren DeMarco, a spokesperson for the state’s attorney’s office, the office and the district worked together to select the winners and students across the county could vote on fan favorites.

The cash prizes were donated by The Magnolia Companies in honor of two county residents, Michael Pisarra and Matthew Loudon, who died of overdoses in 2020.

Below is the first-place winning video, “Dangers of Fentanyl – Forever 16,” by the group from Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg. The overdose of their friend’s brother struck the students deeply and Pettit said that they just wanted to spread awareness.

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“We are proud that we made it this far because I’ve never done stuff like this before. So, it’s all kind of new to me,” Pettit said.

In second place was Elessar Issenberg, a senior at Northwood High School in Silver Spring. He was awarded $750 for his PSA titled, “I’ll Never Tell,” that shares information about Maryland’s Good Samaritan Law. The law protects those who witness or were involved in a drug or alcohol-related medical emergency to call 911 without the risk of criminal arrest, charge or prosecution.

Issenberg, who hopes to study filmmaking in college, said that he decided to create a video for the contest after attending a school assembly that featured a mother who spoke about her child who died from a drug overdose.

“I think [the contest] gives excellent opportunities for people to get involved with these things because as teens, there is not a lot we can do to help these types of problems,” he said.

Jasper Chen, a student at Thomas W. Pyle Middle School in Bethesda, won third prize for his video, “Learn the Facts about Teen Drug Abuse.” Chen was awarded $500 for his entry.

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Two student videos were also placed in the “Honorable Mention” category: “Bear Witness,” by Kaia Koumoutseas and Leonardo Ramos from Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville; and “Raising Awareness, Saving Futures: The Dangers of Fentanyl” by Jeremiah Washington, a student at Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville. Honorable mentions received a $500 prize, as well.

According to McCarthy, the State’s Attorney’s Office saw nearly 300 video submissions by students to the contest. He said that he was shocked and pleased by the sheer number of entries for the video contest. The wide interest signifies just how important the issue is to young people in the county.

“Last year, there were 110,000 Americans that lost their lives to opiate overdoses. A significant portion of them were teenagers,” McCarthy said. “We are not immune from that. In Maryland we had over 3,000 people lose their lives. In Montgomery County we had over 100 people lose their lives. And we lost 11 students from our Montgomery County Public Schools last year [to overdose].”

McCarthy said the goal of the video contest was to engage with young people to spread the message peer-to-peer. He hopes that the repetitive messaging will get through to students in the county to save lives.

At the Gaithersburg High School student event, McCarthy said that the organizers had to cut off the registration for the event due to a high volume of interest from students.

“That was fantastic—to get so many kids coming we had to cut off registration because we couldn’t fit them all in,” McCarthy said. “So, they’re getting it. And I’m proud of them and the relationship we have with the school system that allows us to do this for the community.”

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