Each year, PTAs around the country hold a contest just for students. It's called Reflections, and its goal is to bring out the artist in every kid. The 2005 theme was "A Different Kind of Hero."

When Emily Nikolaisen thinks of heroes, she isn't imagining Elastigirl, Frozone, or the grads of Sky High. To Emily, a hero is an average person with an oversized heart for animals. It's someone who walks into a shelter with open arms and comes home with a barking bundle of joy. With that in mind—and a camcorder in hand—she set out to turn her definition of "hero" into a work of art.

Record, Paws, Edit...Save!
In Utah, Emily's home state, Reflections offers awards for photography, music, writing, drawing, and multimedia projects. This last category, which includes making videos, is the one that caught Emily's eye.

"Since I have a dog of my own," the ten-year-old says, "I wanted people to see that dogs aren't just pets. They're best friends. I thought if I made a video about our local animal shelter and the animals up for adoption, people would open their hearts and homes to them."

Emily started her project on paper. "Before filming, I wrote out some ideas and questions to ask the shelter's staff. After recording our interview, I toured the shelter and took pictures of the animals. Then it was back home to edit. I had to learn some computer software to create special effects and burn my DVD." Emily's video, Be a Hero, Adopt a Dog, was a 2005 contest finalist, and it's playing on a screen near you! To see it, click here.