Two Butler Senior High School students received prizes Thursday for their work promoting local school-related nonprofits.

The students entered a video contest held by XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. The first place winner, 17-year-old junior Carter Stanton, made a video about the Center Township Parent Teacher Organization.

Chris Zidek, an 18-year-old senior, came in second place with a video on the Golden Tornado Scholastic Foundation. The students were recognized and awarded Thursday morning.

Carter said the PTO was an easy choice for him.

“Anything fun in that elementary school, they're the ones doing it,” he said. “Some of my best memories were during elementary school.”

For winning, Carter gets a $500 scholarship and an iPad from XTO Energy. The PTO organization is getting a $1,500 grant.

Chris also won an iPad, plus a $500 grant for the scholastic foundation.

Both students plan to pursue videography-related careers after graduating.

Carter runs a small business creating and promoting sport highlight videos. His YouTube channel has 17,000 subscribers and features multiple videos with more than a million views.

He has arranged with the school district to graduate early after the semester next fall and join the sports media program at Oklahoma State University.

After graduating, Chris is heading west to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where he's majoring in film and television production.

The Center Township PTO does various projects and programs for Center Township Elementary. The school's principal, Jeff Mathieson, praised Carter.

“I'm so very pleased that he remembered his elementary school when he embarked on this project,” Mathieson said.

Carrie Morgan-Davis, vice president of the scholastic foundation, offered similar praise for Chris.

“We are very excited that he was offered this opportunity to pursue even greater opportunities beyond graduation,” Morgan-Davis said. “We're excited that Chris thought of the foundation.”

Karen Matusic, XTO Energy's manager of public and government affairs, gave the pair their awards.

“It is really our honor to be able to operate, work and live here in Butler County,” Matusic said.

Superintendent Brian White also spoke.

“Chris and Carter, you did an excellent job of selecting two really great organizations to highlight,” White said.

The students first learned last week that they won. Chris had been checking a website regularly for results to be posted. On May 22, he checked from a school computer and saw his and Carter's names. He texted Carter.

“I would check the website three times a day looking,” Chris said. “I was super excited.”

Both students participated as part of class projects in Erik Robbins' class at the senior high school.

XTO Energy held the same contest in the Freeport School District and at the Butler County Vocational Technical School. At Freeport, senior Mara Bowser won first place and sophomore Alex Lichtenfels took second place.

At the vo-tech, junior Riley Rodgers won first place and senior Mallory Johnston won second place.

XTO Energy plans to hold similar video contests in the coming years.