"2015 High School Scholarship Essay Contest" (79 minutes)
In 2015, the Physicians for Social Responsibility (Sacramento Chapter) received 170 entries from high school seniors in Sacramento and surrounding counties, describing their thoughts on the words of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who said, "The world is over-armed, and peace is under-funded."
Each finalist in this year's contest, chosen by a panel of distinguished judges, received a $1,000 scholarship.
After each finalist read their essay at this April 26, 2015 event and responded to a question from one of the judges, the panel selected the First Place winner ($3,000 scholarship), Second Place winner ($2,500 scholarship), and Third Place winner ($2,000 scholarship).
"F-35: The Jet That Ate The Pentagon" (8 minutes)
This video, produced by Brave New Films, sheds new light on the waste and failures of the Pentagon’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, including the extraordinary costs of the F-35 (the most expensive weapons system in history), critical design failings, “concurrent development,” and extreme technical and performance issues. The video also highlights the role political contributions given to select members of Congress by Lockheed Martin and other defense contractors have played in keeping the F-35 off the budget chopping block.
"To Prison for Poverty" (13.5 minutes)
To Prison for Poverty documents the system that enables private probation companies to profit from charging excessive fees to low income people who can't pay small fines like traffic tickets. If they can't pay, they go to jail.
"Let's Save the Last Pristine Continent" (16 minutes)
2041 will be a pivotal year for our planet. That year will mark the end of a 50-year agreement to keep Antarctica, the Earth’s last pristine continent, free of exploitation. Explorer Robert Swan — the first person to walk both the North and South Poles — is on a mission to ensure that we extend that treaty. In his October 2014 TED Talks presentation, he pleads with us to choose the preservation of the Antarctic for our own survival.
