KEYSTONE OAKS
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Building a Foundation of Excellence
Keystone Oaks Junior Takes First Place in One Earth Film Festival
Alexander Grattan
Keystone Oaks High School student
Alexander Grattan’s short film about lead pipes
contaminating Pittsburgh’s water supply won first
place in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest,
organized by Green Community Connections in
Chicago, Illinois.
Alex’s six-minute film focused mainly on the
17,750 residential water connections throughout
the Pittsburgh Water & Sewer Authority’s
service territory that contain lead, the health
issues associated with lead poisoning, and how
Pittsburgh can learn from other cities to remove
all of its lead water pipes. Alex’s film is available
online at https://vimeo.com/250508536.
McDonalds awards two
$500 grants to Middle
School ELA teacher,
Technology Integration
Specialist
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KEYSTONE OAKS
The goal of the One Earth Film Festival is
to engage students in a discussion about
sustainability and to challenge them to think
about solutions.
“I decided to focus on water because it is
an important part of Pittsburgh’s identity and
because the issue of lead contamination has
gotten a lot of media attention,” Alex said. “I didn’t
realize the true scope of the problem until I started
to research the topic for this video contest.”
Alex’s film was chosen from more than 100
entries submitted by students throughout the
country. He will receive a $350 scholarship and
Pittsburgh United’s Our Water Campaign will
receive a $350 matching donation.
Middle School ELA teacher Sarah Hardner and Technology Integration
Specialist Carol Persin each received $500 grants through the McDonalds
Making Activities Count grant program.
Miss Hardner will use the grant to purchase an iPad that will allow her
classes to record voice and create podcasts. Mrs. Persin plans to use the
grant to purchase a Breakout EDU kit that will challenge students to answer
a series of questions in order to access codes or keys to unlock various types
of locks on the box.