Holy Rosary Students Take Both Gold And Silver In National Safety Video Competition

From left, Ryelan Hassan and Luc Lehmond in their workplace safety video. File photo

Students from Holy Rosary High School are receiving national recognition after earning top honours in the 2026 Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) Focus on Safety Youth Video Contest.

Grade 11 students Luc Lehmond and Ryelan Hassan first captured gold at the provincial level in the Saskatchewan Youth Video Contest with their entry titled Safety Olympics. Their provincial victory automatically advanced them to the national CCOHS competition; where they went on to earn silver nationally against entries from across Canada.

The annual contest encourages students to create short videos promoting workplace safety awareness for young workers. Videos are first judged at the provincial or territorial level before gold-winning entries move on to the national finals.

Teacher Skye Ferguson, who has led Holy Rosary’s audio and video program for the past eight years, said the students learned they had won gold provincially on April 30 before later receiving news on May 4 that they had also placed nationally.

“The students found out they had received gold at the provincial level shortly after the provincial judging process was completed in early spring,” said Ferguson. “They were later notified that they had won nationally this spring as well. It was an incredibly exciting moment for all of us, especially because of the level of competition involved across Canada.”

Ferguson explained that Holy Rosary’s media program focuses heavily on storytelling, collaboration, production quality, and professional-level filming and editing techniques. She said students are encouraged to participate in competitions, film festivals, and real-world projects to help them build confidence and creative skills beyond the classroom.

Luc Lehmond and Ryelan Hassan began developing their project shortly after competing in the Skills competition in March. Ferguson said the contest serves as an opportunity for students to further challenge themselves creatively while also learning more about workplace safety awareness.

The pair chose a game-show style concept for their award-winning video to make the safety message more engaging for younger audiences.

“We wanted to create something that would be entertaining while still delivering an important message,” said Lehmond. “The game show concept felt like a fun and engaging way to present workplace safety in a creative format.”

Hassan said they intentionally wanted to avoid the more traditional interview-style format often used in safety videos.

“Our teacher mentioned that many safety videos tend to follow a more interview-style format, and we wanted to challenge ourselves by doing something more creative and entertaining,” Hassan explained. “I also enjoy reality TV and game-show style productions, so we thought combining that energy with workplace safety would make the video more memorable.”

The students filmed much of their project at Holy Rosary High School using equipment and resources available through the school’s Synergy Studios and welding shop. Contest rules required the production to remain under two minutes in length while still delivering a strong workplace safety message. The entire filming and editing process took approximately 10 to 15 hours to complete.

Both students said one of the most important aspects of the project was researching workplace safety itself.

“To be honest, before starting this project we did not know a lot about workplace safety ourselves,” said Lehmond. “Through our research, we realized how important safety truly is and how serious the consequences can be if people ignore it.”

Hassan added that the project helped reinforce the importance of protecting workers rather than treating safety as competition.

“We wanted people to understand that workplace safety is not about competition, it is about protecting yourself and others,” Hassan said.

Winning provincially earned the students $1,000 to split between themselves along with $1,500 for the school’s media program. Their national placing added another $1,500 for the students and an additional $1,500 for the program, bringing total support funding for the class to $3,000.

Ferguson said she was especially proud because the students achieved the accomplishment while still in Grade 11.

“Winning at the national level is a tremendous accomplishment, and we had not brought home a national title since 2023, so it was especially exciting for our program,” she said. “Their creativity, willingness to take risks, and dedication to the project truly paid off.”

The achievement continues a strong history for Holy Rosary students in the national safety competition. In 2023, Holy Rosary students Lucas Freeley and Jerico Manaloto earned first place nationally in the same contest.

Both students also credited the experience with opening their eyes to future opportunities in filmmaking and media production.

“I think videography is such a creative way to bring ideas to life,” said Lehmond. “It combines storytelling, music, visuals, editing, and performance into one final product that can entertain people and create emotional reactions.”

Hassan added that he had not originally planned on pursuing videography but was encouraged to join the program after Ferguson recognized his potential.

The students are now inviting the public to attend Holy Rosary’s student film festi