2020 Academic Expeditions “Hometown Hero” Video Contest

When students go on their Academic Expedition to experience the landmarks, structures and historical figures that comprise our national history, one of our primary goals is that these students then begin to see their own lives, their homes, their schools, and their communities with equal reverence and curiosity. While it’s inspiring to visit famous tourist sites in their grandeur and give celebrity status to our national leaders past and present, there are millions of personal stories and events that play out across the country in quiet and humble ways that also deserve our attention. Each town has its people and places to highlight, and we want to get to know these “Hometown Heroes” that you appreciate in your community.

Send us your video featuring a person from your community, living or dead, who has a story that needs to be shared, and if we select your video to be featured on our website, we’ll reward you by discounting your trip price $200!

As both an introduction of the Video Contest and an example of highlighting a local hero, please watch Isaiah’s video below.

Your video must be between 1 and 3 minutes long. It should begin with you speaking the following words (feel free to paraphrase):

“My name is (first name) and I’m from (hometown and state). I’d like to introduce you to one of our Hometown Heroes”.

Your video should showcase a person (past or present) or a place that is significant to both you and your town. How you demonstrate that connection is up to you. More so than technical quality, we’re looking for personality, creativity, and emotion as you give us a little “tour” into your community back home.

The best way to think of some examples is to think about the various things you’re excited to see on your upcoming Academic Expedition: memorials, government buildings, grave sites, churches, colleges, military and political figures, founders and inventors, museums, battlefields, parks and performance arts venues. Now try to imagine, if you were to try to highlight the equivalent of these things in your home town, what person exemplifies the best of your town?

To be eligible, you must be a middle or high school student 12 years or older who is already registered for a school trip with Academic Expeditions in 2020.

If your video meets the above expectations and we select it to be featured on our website, we will deduct $200 from your total trip cost.

Certainly. Be creative and recruit helpers to help you tell your story, or each other’s stories. Just keep in mind that the $200 discount will be rewarded per video, not per person in the video.

You do not need to send us a file or hard copy, but can upload the video to your own Youtube channel. Make the title of the video be “Academic Expeditions: Hometown Tour Guide” and ensure your video settings are set for public viewing. Please email us with a link to your video on Youtube. In the body of the email, write the following:

1. full name
2. school name
3. dates of your upcoming trip

Deadline for submission is 30 days prior to the start of your trip. Since students will be traveling with us at different dates, we will be selecting winners throughout the spring. We have not set an exact number of videos that we will accept as winners; depending the amount of the videos we receive, we plan to select several winners, but may choose even more if the stories we receive are too good to resist!

We will contact you for more information if your video is selected to be featured.

Happy Filming!

Check out a winner from an earlier video contest “Hometown Tour Guide”

Need More Information? Get In Touch!