Students from Valencia and West Ranch high schools and Placerita Junior High have returned with a number of honors from the Student Television Network (STN) National Affiliates Convention recently in Anaheim, including first place awards in the Public Service Announcement, Spot Feature and Humorous Feature categories.
First place in Public Service Announcement went to Nikita Hopkins and Michelle Flowers from Valencia. Sophie Johnson and Sean Herron from West Ranch won first place in Spot Feature. Nick Peters from Valencia won first place in the Humorous Feature category with a “Barbie vs. Bratz” feature. His piece was so popular that SchoolTube.com has asked to do a feature segment on the Valencia High School video program.
Aoi Takeya from Placerita Junior High brought home third place in the Middle School Anchoring category and Danielle Barbarin from West Ranch won third place in the Live Reporter competition.
Valencia students also brought home two honorable mention awards. Jocelyn Frankhuizen was cited in the Live Reporter category, and a music video created by Valencia High School students Erica Bonnette, Mitchel Morris, Justin Crissman and Andrew Harbour also earned honorable mention.
West Ranch student Desiree Love captured honorable mention with her Collaborative Commercial, and Jake Culligan from Placerita received honorable mention in the same category. Steven Hochman and Nick Russell from West Ranch earned honorable mention for their Show Opening presentation.
The Placerita video team of Blake Coffey, Shannon Cholakian and Clarisza Mora received honorable mention in the Middle School Laptop Commercial competition. Placerita’s Cameron Quon earned honorable mention for Middle School Anchoring and was selected as a Closing Ceremonies presenter, the only middle school student chosen for the honor.
A short film by Valencia students Mitchel Morris, Justin Crissman and Andrew Harbour placed in the top five in the Short Film category.
The STN convention is the largest annual gathering of student filmmakers in the United States, drawing over 1600 students from 36 states and more than 215 schools. Some 1100 students competed in the individual competitions in which Hart District students excelled.
“All of the students who competed did an amazing job,” said Jennifer Overdevest, TV/Video Production teacher from West Ranch High School. “The competition was very stiff this year.”
Kim Forbes is head of the video program at Valencia High School, and Paul Kass is advisor for the Kid Flix video program at Placerita Junior High.