Coca-Cola-owned POWERADE launched their Power Your School campaign to support high school athletics across the country. Unfortunately, when money gets tight for school systems, athletics are usually the first programs to get cut. Visionaries at POWERADE saw how deeply athletics programs were suffering from these cuts but knew how important these programs were, not only for young athletes but for entire communities.

Power Your School Contest Guidelines

So, POWERADE decided to award $1 million to athletic programs in high schools across the U.S. After submitting written or video essays about their school’s unique needs, schools who enter are judged on their submission’s creativity, the program’s need and the quality of the submission. Winning schools take home $2,000 if named secondary winners and $10,000 if named grand prize winners, which can be put toward maintaining the program and its facilities.

PMHS Named Grand Prize Winner

This year, Portal Middle High School in Georgia was announced as one of the grand prize winners, receiving $10,000. This actually isn’t the first time that a Bulloch County school has been designated as a winner in the contest—in 2018, Statesboro High School was named a secondary prize winner, receiving $2,000. Phillip Story, manager of the Statesboro Coca-Cola Sales Center, and Patrick Griffin, the on-premise area manager for Coca-Cola Bottling Company United, presented the award to PMHS on Friday, February 15.

How They Did It

Portal Middle High School’s video essay submission starts by acknowledging the history of the school and its sports teams. It shows students in weight rooms, courts, and practice fields blasting out drills and sipping on POWERADE. They also made evident their equipment shortcomings, from lackluster basketballs to dingey football practice uniforms, following with the phrase “Please, POWERADE, power our school!” We are proud to support programs like these so that young people get to experience high quality athletics programs that foster their development!