Mahwah Students Create HPV Vaccine Commercial, Win Award

Creating a video about the HPV vaccine and winning a state contest for it? Priceless.

Mahwah High School Juniors Kyle Dubiel and Max Mucha were runners-up in the Protect Me with 3 video contest, run by the Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern New Jersey and the New Jersey Department of Health.

According to a release from the state, the contest is, “designed to increase knowledge of the tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis (Tdap); meningococcal conjugate; and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations among New Jersey youth.”

The contest asked kids to create original 30-second videos about one of the vaccines, and a disease it protects against.

Dubiel and Mucha created an HPV vaccine video that they describe as a parody of the MasterCard ‘Priceless’ commercials.

“Mr. Miguel, our lovely Digital Media Teacher, handed out a packet for the contest and Kyle and I immediately ran to each other and said, ‘Let's do this!’” Mucha said. “Then we shot it and edited it, and then sent it in.”

The two were awarded a $250 prize for having the second best video in their age category.

“We feel really great about the whole thing, and we are really appreciative of the support we were given,” Dubiel said.

“I remember when we first got the email congratulating us on being chosen as one of the Top 5 finalists in the entire state. I called Max and we were just in awe. We didn't really know what to say.”

State reps say they hope the contest will spread awareness among New Jersey teens.

“Protect Me With 3 was developed to educate adolescents and their parents,” Dr. Christina Tan, New Jersey State Epidemiologist, said in a release from the state.

“The participation we saw in this year’s video contest and the level of creativity and passion on display in the submissions, demonstrate that NJ youth play a vital role in communicating to their peers the importance of disease prevention.”

See the Mahwah students’ winning video here.