Click here for a link to the winning videos.
A group of Freeland High School students who found a few monstrous potholes are cashing in on their find.
Using their video camera and a lot of creativity, seven Freeland High video production students won their first-ever award this week.
"Finally. Finally we won one," Tyler Norfleet said.
What these students won was first place in the video portion of the Michigan Transportation Team's contest to find the worst potholes in the state. It was an assignment from teacher Tom Short. "It's something that affects all of us every single day on our drive on the bus or in our car," Short said.
One of their two award-winning videos was shot on Muirhead Drive.
"My cousins live on that road, and they have wrecked two or three cars on that road alone just because the potholes are deep," Justin Willett said.
Most of the videos were dramatized for effect, but that wasn't the case all the time.
"First one where he flings his head forward, that I got randomly beforehand, before we were trying to act dramatic," Tyler said.
These high schoolers say finding the potholes was the easy part. Their time in the school's one edit room was the hard part. "We're at this computer a lot," admitted Tyler.
All are happy to take top honors, but the prize is especially sweet for Justin Willett. "That's nice because, for my future, I actually want to pursue a career in filmmaking."
They won $370 for their hard work. That's what officials say represents the costs drivers pay in vehicle repairs and time lost in congestion on Michigan's poor roads.
"We've all been down rocky roads, so we all feel the effects of potholes. So this is our way of showing that they need to be dealt with," said student Andrew Robishaw.