Each day in the United States, more than 3,200 people younger than 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 2,100 youth and young adults who have been occasional smokers become daily cigarette smokers, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, the current use of tobacco products for high schoolers was at an estimated 23.3%. Each day in the United States, more than 3,200 people younger than 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 2,100 youth and young adults who have been occasional smokers become daily cigarette smokers. SOS “Stamp Out Smoking” is a campaign that stands as an initiative to high school students to get involved in ending smoking for good.

Senior Matt Philpot participated in making a film for SOS, and finished first in the 18-24 year old division. Most high school students don’t usually spend their time trying to help end smoking through film, let alone help at all. However, Philpot learned about the unique project through one of his teachers, and decided to partake in the opportunity.

“Mr. Sherman, the TV productions teacher, brought it up to our class as an opportunity to do as a project and so I participated,” said Philpot.

The nationally ranked senior’s original idea for the film was an inspiration to many.

“One of the topic ideas was that kids are the tobacco companies “pawns”. I took that to a literal meaning and decided to make it seem like big tobacco businesses were playing a game with the younger generation to get them to smoke, and it must have worked,” said Philpot.

However, Philpot did not work on this project completely alone.

“I did have group members who helped me out by getting their family members to act in the film and also they would tell me how they felt about certain shots or during the editing process,” said Philpot.

Seniors Nick Hancock and Garrett Wiegel were both members of Philpot’s group, and the three of them completed the project in less than a month. They worked mostly during school hours, and had to be totally completed with the project by Nov. 24. ‘Chicago Stamp out Smoking’ was specifically a national competition with no regional or local levels beforehand since the competition was based in Chicago.

“For this project I only filmed in Springdale and did not travel to Chicago. I have competed in other competitions in which I have traveled before,”said Philpot.

Philpot’s plans for his future career are not in filmmaking, but instead the business or banking field. Despite the fact that filmmaking isn’t in his career plan, as an experienced and award winning filmmaker, Philpot has some words of advice for aspiring filmmakers.

“If I could say one thing, it would be to have fun with whatever you’re doing because you aren’t going to make a good film unless you’re having fun and being creative,” said Philpot.