By Rose Cahalan in Blog on |

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How will you change the world as a student at The University of Texas?

That was the question poised to freshmen in the annual Gone to Texas video contest. About 50 students entered the third-annual contest, and a diverse panel of judges—including Vice President for Student Affairs Gage Paine, public relations student Emily Watson, and GSD&M Vice President Jeff Orth—selected five winning videos. The 30-second films debuted on a huge screen Tuesday night at the Gone to Texas back-to-school celebration.

The winning students say they plan to change the world through producing music and film, improving physical education in schools, telling original stories, and more.

First-place winner Shanzyan Faraizi scored an iPad for his funny, snappy “Fresh Prince of UT” rap, while Marshall Kistner took second place for a zany video about the importance of getting kids moving (we admire his persistence in having no fewer than three sports balls pelted at his head). Other highlights include Daniel Abramsom’s stop-motion cartoon and Shelby Patton’s vintage reel (she gets bonus points for recruiting a little sister to help).

Watch the most moving of the winning videos, by Jesus Salazar, above—we dare you not to tear up. And check out the rest of the winning videos here.