Seton video wins contest

Seton School junior Libby Wittman said meeting Pope Benedict XVI would be one of the most important things that could happen in her life.

Wittman may not get that wish, but thanks to the creativity she and four fellow students displayed, she will be a lot closer to that dream than most.

Wittman, Mimi Myers, Olivia Aveni, Kristie Ostrich and Brian Nagurny comprised one of three winning groups in the Papal Youth Video Contest sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington. Their original two-minute video welcoming the pontiff to Washington, D.C., will be shown at the pre-mass festivities at Nationals Park on April 17. The group also won 15 tickets to the mass.

Watch the video

The other video winners were St. Rose of Lima in Gaithersburg, Md., and Southern Maryland Catholic Elementary Schools. In all, there were 47 entries in the contest, which was judged by local media professionals and archdiocesan officials.

The winning group was surprised with the news during class Thursday as a television crew and family members budged their way into a cramped classroom for the announcement. The children were clearly stunned with the news as classmates all around them cheered their distinction.

"I am just flabbergasted," said the 16-year-old Wittman.

"I think if I meet him, I'm gonna cry," said Myers, a cousin of Wittman's, also a junior.

The video displays an obviously exuberant Wittman spreading the news to her neighbors that the pope is coming. The video goes back and forth between her neighborhood adventures and pictures of the pope and Vatican City.

Nagurny wrote an original piano piece to accompany the video while Myers sang an original tune with lyrics praising the pope and welcoming him to Washington.

For Ostrich, 15, it won't be the first time she's been in the same place as the pope. Last summer, she attended a papal audience in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, where Pope Benedict XVI spoke to groups in several different languages for several hours.

The event lasted all morning with Ostrich poised about 50 to 60 feet away from him.

Several proud parents were on hand to take part in the festivities, including Myers' mother, Mary. She said the children barely got the video postmarked in time, thanks to some last-second computer issues.

But in the end, it was all worth it.

"To know that Mimi's voice is out there welcoming the Holy Father is just

fantastic," Mary said.

"It's inspiring to see your kids into their faith like that," added Martha Aveni, Olivia's mother.

Front office employee Eileen Akers said she hasn't seen the video yet but that Seton may show it as part of a schoolwide assembly next week.

"It was so wonderful to see their reaction," Akers said. "They were so surprised. They're great kids and they worked hard on that video."

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.