Topics: College of Applied Sciences and Technology, Immersive Learning

April 25, 2007

What do the library, germ-covered hands and the Bubble Fairy have in common?

They're all featured in a winning short video produced by Ball State graduate students on the Learning Well Resources Team at the Fisher Institute for Wellness and Gerontology.

The six-student Ball State team won the American Public Health Association's 2007 Viral Video Contest held in conjunction with National Public Health Week April 2-7. Viral videos are clips shared by e-mail, instant messaging, blogs or media Web sites like YouTube.

The team's video — targeted for K-12 students — uses a humorous approach to make its point: stop the spread of germs by using commonsense health precautions.

"It was interesting how they used their different talents and skills to create the video," said Cathy Whaley, project coordinator for the School Wellness Initiative.

Crystal Nguyen of Moreno Valley, Calif., started by creating a storyboard and script and then pitched the idea to her teammates: David Bustamante of Highland; Seok Won Jin of South Korea; Caroline Reinhart of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Nathan Taylor, Champaign, Ill.; and Meghan Lambourne of Cadillac, Mich.

Lambourne provided the voiceover, and Bustamante starred as the Bubble Fairy.

"When the opportunity came to us, it was such a fun project to do," Nguyen said. "It was a lot of teamwork. Everyone found their own niche."

The winning video can be viewed at www.nphw.org/2007/pg_viralvideo.htm. It also will be featured on the American Public Health Association's Get Ready for Flu Web site at www.getreadyforflu.org. 

"We were delighted our students were able to gain national exposure for this project," Whaley said. "It's an added bonus that the video will be on the Get Ready Web site."

The Learning Well Resources Team is a part of the School Wellness Initiative funded by the Ball Brothers Foundation. It was created to support Delaware County schools by researching and distributing school wellness resources and training programs and to create a coordinated and comprehensive school wellness center.

For more information, contact Whaley at (765) 285-5846 or cdwhaley@bsu.edu.

By Kim Jackson