At Casey County High School, a simple classroom assignment turned into something much bigger — a county title, a regional championship, and now a shot at national prize money.
Seniors Mia Price and Layla Blevins didn’t set out expecting trophies or thousands of dollars on the line. They just wanted to make something funny and relatable for teens their age.
Instead, their 30-second financial literacy video, “Wants Take the Wheel,” has carried them through multiple rounds of competition in the Lights, Camera, Save! contest, hosted locally by Farmers National Bank and organized nationally by the American Bankers Association Foundation.
After winning at the county level, then across a five-county region, and surviving a national Instagram voting bracket, the pair has officially advanced to nationals, where they hope to place in the top three.
The idea came from real life.
“I had just gone on a shopping spree with my mom, and I was recently out of gas,” Price said. “So I thought, ‘What better idea than two teenage girls going shopping and running out of gas on the way home?’”
The result is a lighthearted story about wants versus needs — two friends who spend too much and end up stranded — played for laughs but grounded in a lesson about budgeting.
“We thought about what could apply to people our age — something they would understand,” Blevins said. “We tried to think of ways to make it more whimsical and funny. When we saw the finished product, we thought it really fit our personalities.”
Two entries, one team
Although the pair worked side-by-side on the project, contest rules required only one student name per submission. So they entered two separate videos — one under Blevins’s name and one under Price’s.
At the county level, Blevins’s version finished first runner-up, while Price’s claimed first place overall.
Because they collaborated on both videos, Farmers National Bank allowed the pair to accept the recognition and prizes together — fitting for two students who were recently voted their senior class’s “Dynamic Duo.”
The pair acknowledged the bank for its part in their success as well, especially Todd Harne, Casey County market manager and vice president of business development for Farmers National.
Harne was a guest speaker in the students’ multimedia class where they were assigned the project, both at the beginning of the project and again on deadline day to encourage students and talk through concepts.
For Blevins, that support made a difference.
“Thank you to Farmers National Bank for the opportunity and Mr. Harne in particular for coming to our class and motivating us all to take part in the contest,” she said.
Wins — and surprises
When the county winners were announced, Price could hardly believe it.
“They were announcing everybody, and we couldn’t help but notice Layla was first runner-up,” she said. “Then they called my name. I jumped up.”
Coming out on top in the five-county region portion of the contest felt just as unlikely.
“I was just thinking, ‘There’s no way,’” Price said. “It feels so surreal that I would be in a video contest in the first place, let alone winning.”
Layla found out about the regional victory while she was away representing Casey County at the Distinguished Young Women state competition.
“I remember because I was standing there eating pizza,” she said, laughing. “Mia’s mom texted me that we had won. I dropped everything and celebrated.”
The next hurdle was national preliminaries, where videos from student across the nation faced off through Instagram story voting. Because much of the voting window fell during school hours, classmates played a key role, as the school district allowed CCHS students to have their phones 10 minutes early to take part in the Instagram vote.
“When I saw that the school was going to let students get their phones early to vote for us, it felt even more special,” Blevins said. “I was very grateful for my friends and family who supported us.”
Friendship first
Both seniors say the best part wasn’t the prizes — it was the chance to create something together.
“I really enjoyed working on this project with my best friend,” Price said. “It was a really good way to bring out our competitiveness and our creativity.”
“We’ve gotten to bond even more over this video,” Blevins said.
The duo’s video is currently waiting to hear the results from nationals, an announcement that is expected within the next couple of weeks. The pair has seen all of the videos they are going up against because of the Instagram voting and know the competition has only gotten tougher.
“I’m expecting it to be harder since we’re going up against the best of the best,” Blevins said, “but I am very confident in our video. Even if we don’t win anything, it was still such a fun experience.
“Just making it to nationals was a big achievement in my eyes,” Price added.
