BHS-TV Students Win Contest, Visit from Rihanna

Barrington High School students shine bright like a diamond, and it shows.

Members of BHS-TV created an inspiring video highlighting the volunteer and philanthropic efforts of BHS students that won a nation-wide contest sponsored by pop-star Rihanna. The school beat out 52 other entries. The grand prize: A visit from the singer herself.

“We saw the contest and thought it was a really good idea, especially because Barrington is so philanthropic,” Peter Chung, a BHS-TV member said. “It took about a month to put it together, but it was probably dozens of hours…it was a very tedious process.”

The video showcasing the thousands of dollars students have raised for charity, and hundreds of hours they’ve volunteered, has 4,163 hits on YouTube. The students who worked on the project are proud of their work and excited for the grand prize of Rhianna’s visit.

“To be honest, I wasn’t necessarily surprised (that we won),” said Katherine Goetze, who voiced over the beginning of the video. “I knew we had a really good chance, but it was definitely exciting because I knew the second we found out that Rhianna would visit the school that I would be the most likely candidate to conduct an interview if we were to arrange for that,” she said.

Students volunteering with GiGi’s Playhouse, Kids Feeding Kids and thUnited Way are just a few of the philanthropic acts highlighted. Student Tommy Lekai helped create charity videos for these organizations as a way to give back.

“We have recognition of sorts (for our charity work) but not much. The video was a great outlet for everything we’ve done and what our whole high school has done for charity,” he said.

BHS-TV teacher Jeff Doles was notified first that his class had won the contest.

“We were waiting to hear back because Dec. 18 was the day…I sent an email to my contact at GoMoxie.org and she emailed me back that we had won,” Doles said. “Sometimes it’s nice to reward the students for all their hard work.”

Although the grand prize is exciting, the students haven’t forgotten about their mission to give back. They hope to organize a fundraising performance with Rihanna to benefit the charities profiled in the video.

“The students are amazing,” Doles said. “We are just trying to pay it forward.”