Three years ago, USC Shoah Foundation launched the IWitness Video Challenge, hoping to inspire students to create positive change in their communities by watching the testimonies of genocide survivors and documenting their service projects in an original video.

After reviewing the submissions, the judging panel’s choice for the first place winner was unanimous: Ruth Hernandez, a freshman at Esperanza Academy Charter School in Philadelphia whose video documented her remarkable determination to stand up for undocumented immigrants. She was deeply moved by the testimonies of Holocaust survivors who described their struggles being undocumented immigrants themselves.

As part of her prize, Ruth traveled to Los Angeles with her mom and her teacher Eden Strunk to attend the Institute’s 2014 Ambassadors for Humanity gala, which that year honored President Obama. Ruth quickly won over the staff of USC Shoah Foundation with her polite yet motivated personality.

Hernandez is now a high school senior, about to graduate and embark on her next steps into the world – and still feeling the impact of the IWitness Video Challenge.

“When I started my video for the IWitness Video Challenge I had my mind set on making a change, but it was I who was changed through the whole process,” Ruth said.

Ruth said when she started working on her project she was going through a rough time because she had just started a new school. But her project allowed her to discover new things.

She brought together students from her school to make posters and T-shirts to bring to a local immigration reform rally and in the process learned that they, too, were affected by immigration.

“Some did not have their family members with them or they themselves lived in fear of being deported,” she said. “Through it all, I felt so happy because I felt a sense of bonding that was unifying us to work for a cause close to our hearts.”

Watching the testimonies about deportation in IWitness, Ruth imagined what it would be like to have a family member taken away or for her to be forced to leave everything she knows, and she realized the importance of taking action to make sure this doesn’t happen in her own community.

Because of the IWitness Video Challenge, Ruth has noticed that she speaks up more and is conscious of not being a bystander. She learned that she cannot be silent in the face of oppression.

“The IWitness Video Challenge helped me find my voice,” Ruth said. “I let go of my fear. I realized that needed to stop thinking and start acting.”