Hydrogen Video Makes a Big Bang for BHS Contest Winner

Berlin High junior Daniyal Khan gets a real bang out of making videos. And that hobby is paying off.

His five-minute video “Discovering Hydrogen” came in first out of nearly 700 entries in the nationwide It’s Elemental video contest for high school students sponsored by the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF). Khan won the grand prize in the challenging individual entry category.

Khan will receive his prize at a special Heritage Day ceremony in Philadelphia on April 8. As part of the festivities, Khan and the grand prize winners in the team category will meet with the prestigious panel of judges for the contest, including Nobel Prize-winning chemist Roald Hoffmann. The two grand prize-winning videos will be played for the distinguished guests.

According to CHF Communications Manager Neil Gussman, “It was easier for teams. This was quite an undertaking to put this together by himself. He’s a smart kid.”

Berlin High School Principal Matthew Harnett agrees. “This really puts him in an elite category,” he says.

Khan has only lived in Berlin for a few years. Born in Pakistan, he and his family moved to England in 2004 when his father, an airline pilot, was transferred there. In 2007, the family moved to East Haven to be near his uncles. They moved to Berlin last year.

“Lots of good things came out of moving to Berlin,” Khan says. “The video is just one.”

The move was also good for the high school. Khan’s prize earned a $5,000 grant from Dow Chemical Company for Berlin High’s science department.

When asked how the money would be spent, Harnett says, “We haven’t even had that conversation yet. We’ll get Daniyal’s input on that. There’s a ton of need, that’s for sure.”

Khan himself says, “I feel really proud that I got $5,000 for my school.”

He is grateful to his sophomore chemistry teacher, Morgan Hanna, who told him about the video contest and helped him with the video, which took about a month to make. He almost didn’t make the deadline, he says, because it was close to midterms.

“I was running short of sleep,” he relates. The first version of the film was seven minutes long—two minutes longer than allowed. He didn’t have much time for editing. “I was probably the last person to upload,” he says.

In addition to the tight deadline, Khan found the video’s subject matter challenging. “You have to keep it simple enough so the viewer can understand it,” he explains.

And hydrogen wasn’t his element of choice. He wanted to focus on oxygen or carbon, but those elements were already taken. Only a certain number of entries were accepted for each chemical element. But as it turns out, hydrogen provided the big bang Khan needed.

Khan’s interest in filmmaking blossomed after he took a digital media class at Berlin High last year.
“I like to make videos. I have this little production company,” he says.

Khan plans to study film in college, possibly at Quinnipiac University. His digital media class took field trips there last year. They have a good film program, Khan says, and he wants to stay in state to save money.

Though the CHF pays for one chaperone to attend the conference with Khan, his whole family will be making the trip to Philadelphia. They are obviously very proud of his accomplishments.

Khan’s sister, Ramsha, a sophomore at Berlin High, says, “When he told us, I almost didn’t believe it. Out of all the 50 states, he won.”

To view the winning video:  http://gallery2.berlinwall.org/main.php/v/BHS/studentvideo/Discovering+Hydrogen.flv.html

Until March 23, you can also cast your vote for the People’s Choice award category of the It’s Elemental contest, which comes with another $5,000 grant. To vote, go to: http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/chemistry-in-history/its-elemental/view-video.aspx?reserveID=1436&elem=1.