For 17 years now, our Summer Reading Contest has been inviting teenagers around the world to tell us about the recent Times pieces that have gotten their attention, and explain why. Students can submit either written comments or 90-second video responses.

This week, the second of our 10-week challenge, we received 750 submissions, and chose as our winners an essay by Heeva Alavi and a video by Aariv Shah. You can find both below, along with a list of runners-up and honorable mentions.

Scroll through to appreciate the wide variety of topics that caught the attention of teenagers this week, including horror movies, social media, cram school, climate change, and wearing socks with sandals.

You can find the work of all of our winners since 2017 in this column.

Our Winners

Heeva Alavi, 17, from Arlington, Va., reflected on “Jaded and Exhausted, Many Iranians Shrug at World Cup.” She wrote:

As an Iranian-American girl who has lived in the U.S. for my entire life, this World Cup has brought up mixed emotions for me and my family, which is split between Iran and the U.S.

My father, who doesn’t usually follow soccer, watches the games every four years. He was at the first U.S.-Iran World Cup game in 1998 in Paris and watched Iran defeat the U.S. Despite being a dual citizen and living in the U.S., his loyalty still lay with Iran and his heritage. He still talks about this as the most exciting sporting experience of his life.

For my family in the U.S., Iran’s World Cup games still matter deeply. However, my family in Iran echoes the sentiments in the article “Jaded and Exhausted, Many Iranians Shrug at World Cup.”

“People have so many problems and are dealing with so many challenges that this soccer thing is really not a big deal for them,” says Iman, a Tehran resident. His opinion is similar to that of many Iranians, including many of my relatives living in Tehran. My uncle, who follows European soccer closely, hasn’t bothered to watch any of Iran’s games this year. They are focused on breaking through the internet blackouts and listening for news of the next bombing, a constant fear since Israel’s 12-day assault a year ago.

This article reminded me that indifference is not always a lack of pride, but sometimes exhaustion. For my family in the U.S., the World Cup is a chance to show their pride in their heritage; for my family in Iran, survival is front of mind.

In a video, Aariv Shah, 14, from Los Gatos, Calif., broke down his thoughts on “SpaceX Sets Milestone With World’s Largest I.P.O., Furthering Musk’s Power”: