Whitehall-Coplay Middle School students have entered a video in the Lehigh Valley Skill Ups 2014 "What's So Cool About Manufacturing?" contest.

Eighth-grade students Christine Esknader and Katie Lutterschmidt, along with seventh-grade student Reece Martin, worked with computer science teacher Tony Pangaio.

Student teams from 16 public school districts and Sacred Heart School paired up with local manufacturing companies and created a video that showcased manufacturing jobs at the given company. Schools were given GoPro Cameras and provided training by eMediaWorks.

Whitehall-Coplay School District was paired with Atlas Machining and Welding, Northampton.

Christine and Katie filmed and edited the video, while Reece starred in the video and came up with interview questions.

The students knew nothing about welding going into the project, but thought the concept sounded fun and were excited to tackle something challenging.

Pangaio and the students started filming around Thanksgiving. The video, which took five hours to film, gives a tour of Atlas Machining and Welding and features an interview with Chief Operating Officer Lisa Keeney and other employees.

"What is great about this, was that it was all the students," Pangaio said.

According to Pangaio, he put his two cents in here and there, but "that product was theirs from beginning to end."

The contest had few rules, which left the students with a lot of creative freedom. They were required to interview at least three people, with the maximum time of the video being two and a half minutes.

The beginning of the video had to contain the contest logo, as well as the partnering manufacturer's logo. The school logo, district logo, Dream It. Do It. PA logo and a waiver panel, all had to appear at the end.

The editing process took place during school hours, when the students had a free period. While there was more work involved than the students originally thought, all three said they would do it again.

"It was good that they got to see the product from start to finish," said Pangaio.

Pangaio said that the contest has opened up more doors for future students.

"We could take a couple of kids [to Atlas] just to scope it out, to say, 'Would you be interested in this?' Students could talk to the guys individually to ask, 'What would you suggest I do after high school to follow this path?'"

Voting for the contest will be Feb. 24-26 on dreamitdoitpa.com. An awards ceremony will be held at the Da Vinci Science Center Feb. 27. Multiple awards will be handed out, including the Viewer's Choice Award, which will be presented to the team that receives the most votes.