Four Manchester Township High School (MTHS) Freshman Seminar students, Jesse S., Cole S., Lorenzo H., and Santiago S., were awarded 2nd place in the Ocean County Health Department’s (OCHD) Annual Public Health Awareness Competition. The contest, open to students from all grades who live in Ocean County, garnered hundreds of submissions, but only the MTHS students submitted a creative short film as an entry!
In recognition of the 2025 National Public Health Week, the MTHS students from Ms. Patruzo's Freshman Seminar Class created a short film about substance abuse as it applied to the theme of the contest which was “It Starts Here." The film was shown to all of the OCHD, along with the hundreds of other contest submissions for voting, coming out on top as the victorious 2nd place winner.
Today, during the OCHD board meeting, the students' film was shown to a room full of parents, teachers, school staff from across Ocean County, OCHD staff members, and OCHD board members, including a NJ State Senator, former mayor, and other distinguished decision makers. The room was not only captivated by the film submission, but by each MTHS student who spoke about why they created the film and the passion and importance they felt in supporting healthy decision making among their peers.
Today, these four students truly embodied everything about the Manchester Township School District's motto of Excellence by Example. We look forward to MTHS sharing their short film and this achievement with the community at the April Board of Education's monthly meeting.
