On Sunday, April 28, the sixth annual Golden Lion Awards Film Festival recognized students from across the Midwest, including two from Loveland High School: Sophomore Claire Beseler won a Mountain Lion Award for her short narrative film This Broken Mind and Senior Sam Richardson, who had a total of five films accepted into the competition, won the Mountain Lion Award for his film Cybersecurity Privacy and Safety (public service announcement category). Richardson was also an animation category finalist with Bombs Away and a finalist in the informational/educational category with his film Intellectual Property.
The Golden Lion Awards are produced and directed by The Underground Academy of Cinematic Arts. The competition is open to high school and middle school students in 12 Midwest states, as well as areas of an additional 15 states within 500 miles of Cincinnati.
Last month, Beseler’s film This Broken Mind was the winner of the short narrative category in the third annual New Media Film Festival at Mount Saint Joseph University. On Sunday, May 5, Richardson’s animation Bombs Away will be recognized at the Ohio Governor’s Youth Art Exhibition awards ceremony for being in the top 25 out of more than 11,000 artworks submitted to the competition.
Sam Richardson’s photograph “The Claw” has won a National Silver Medal from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and will be published in the online galleries at artandwriting.org in June.
First Loveland student artist to be recognized at the national level
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland High School Senior Sam Richardson’s photograph “The Claw” has won a National Silver Medal from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The Claw won a Gold Key regionally, qualifying it for the national competition where it was selected to receive a National Medal for its excellence in originality, technical skill and emergence of personal voice or vision. Nearly 340,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the contest in 2019, and only the top one percent were recognized with a National Medal.
Richardson now joins the ranks of artist Andy Warhol, writer Joyce Carol Oates and film maker Ken Burns.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have celebrated teen artists and writers since 1923. Richardson now joins the ranks of distinguished alumni like artist Andy Warhol, writer Joyce Carol Oates and film maker Ken Burns, and will be listed in the 2019 Yearbook ̶ a companion publication to The Best Teen Art and The Best Teen Writing anthologies. The Claw will be included in the online galleries at artandwriting.orgin June 2019.
The Loveland Orienteering Team won numerous awards last season, including at the Flying Pig XXII, a national event: (left to right) Joe Roman (team mentor), Sam Richardson (LHS student), Nathan Stewart (LHS student), Isaac Jouwstra (Loveland resident) Leslie Nash (LHS student) and Greg Fasig (team mentor)
Loveland, Ohio – Have you ever wondered how people found their way from one place to the other before there were well-established roads, trails, and Google maps? Have you ever wanted to go into the woods, really into the woods, but worried you might get lost? If you’d like to develop skills to navigate in the wilderness while racing from one place to the other, you’re in luck. Loveland High School (LHS) is the only high school in the area – in fact, the only one in Ohio – with an orienteering club. While unfamiliar to most, orienteering is a competitive sport that combines running and navigation in timed races. The Loveland Orienteering Team, which completed its second year in May, was adopted as a club at LHS last fall.
Several of our members placed in their respective categories for the season standings and at the national Flying Pig Orienteering event in April.
“It’s really exciting to introduce this awesome sport to the students and athletes at the high school,” said Sam Richardson, LHS senior and club president who also runs competitive cross country for Loveland. “With a team of 22 – 15 youth and seven adults – our team had a great past year. Several of our members placed in their respective categories for the season standings and at the national Flying Pig Orienteering event in April.”
Loveland Senior Sam Richardson approaching a control flag during an orienteering event.
Often associated with the military, orienteering started in Scandinavia as a land navigation training exercise for military officers more than a hundred years ago, and the U.S. Orienteering Federation was established by officers at Quantico Marine Corps Base. As an off-road, off-trail running race where participants cross land with the help of just a map and a compass, orienteering requires a high degree of fitness and the ability to navigate through unknown terrain to various checkpoints. The season runs November through May, when the frozen ground allows for less impact on the land. The freezing, followed by thawing and spring rains, often erases all signs of orienteering during the winter. And, there are no worries about poison ivy or tick bites.
Orienteering offers a great reason to get outside this time of year.
“Orienteering offers a great reason to get outside this time of year,” said team mentor Greg Fasig, who has been an orienteering enthusiast since 2010. “People quickly learn how easy it is to stay warm, trekking up and down the hills of the Tri-State. It’s also easier to see the contour of the land when the trees are bare, which allows you to navigate using the contour lines on the map.”
During the 2017-18 season, the Loveland Orienteering Team participated in 18 competitions. Some of the most memorable events happened in a lot of mud, rain, and even snow – it’s rare for an orienteering event to be cancelled for inclement weather.
“The competition at Mt. Airy Forest was especially muddy,” said Fasig. “For the season finale at Governor Bebb MetroPark it snowed, reducing visibility to less than 10 feet at times – that combined with fogging glasses makes for a much more challenging event.”
The sport does not only require physical stamina, but also mental skills.
The sport does not only require physical stamina, but also mental skills. Orienteers learn and develop proficiency in analyzing, planning, monitoring, assessing, modifying, and other problem-solving skills.
“Participants practice these skills in a fun and safe environment, while under the duress of trying to complete the course as quickly as possible when racing,” said Dave Volkman, LHS teacher and club advisor for the team. “No other sport in the world combines these elements of fitness and problem solving.”
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Ohio Turnpike involves teenagers in communicating the dangers of distracted driving
The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has announced the winners of its inaugural Ohio Turnpike W82TXT video contest, an initiative to engage teens in the messaging around the dangers of distracted driving. Taking home the Grand Prize is Loveland High School (LHS) Senior Sam Richardson, whose animated short video “#W82TXTY” encourages you to put your phone down and out of reach when getting in the car.
Taking home the Grand Prize is Loveland High School (LHS) Senior Sam Richardson, whose animated short video “#W82TXTY” encourages you to put your phone down and out of reach when getting in the car.
“I can’t remember the number of times I have been in a car with a teenager or adult who was on their phone while driving and I had to tell them to put it down,” said Richardson. “By entering this video contest, I wanted to spread a meaningful message about the consequences of texting and driving.”
Richardson, who started making videos and animation in eighth grade, is currently doing a virtual reality independent study at LHS, allowing him to learn various techniques on his own while earning high school credits. W82TXT is the fifth video contest he has entered – and the second that he has won. In 2016, he won second place in the Ohio Attorney General’s “Take Action” video contest to raise awareness about important consumer decisions that students will make. (Read:
In 2017, Sam Richardson (second from left) placed second and won a $1,500 scholarship for the video he created about cybersecurity and privacy. (Read the story)
After graduating from LHS next spring, Richardson plans to study toward a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at a college in Ohio. “After earning my college degree, I hope to work for an animation studio like DreamWorks, Pixar or Disney in Los Angeles,” he said.
Prizes for the three top winners include their choice of a DJI Osmo video camera, GoPro video camera, Apple iPad, or a $250 Amazon Gift Card. The winners will choose their prize in the order in which their video placed. The Grand Prize Winner will also select a booster club at their High School to receive a $500 donation.
About the W82TXT video contest
The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission video contest coincides with what has become known as the “100 Deadliest Days” on the roads between Memorial Day and Labor Day. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that new teen drivers, ages 16-17, are three times more likely than adults to be involved in a deadly crash during the summer months. By engaging teens during this critical time, they help raise awareness and influence peers to make safe choices behind the wheel. The Commission plans to hold a second contest in 2019. For more information, visit www.ohioturnpike.org/.
The Golden Lion Awards are produced and directed by The Underground Academy of Cinematic Arts. The competition is open to high school and middle school students in 12 Midwest states, as well as areas of an additional 15 states within 500 miles of Cincinnati.
