The high school’s StingTV student journalists snagged trophies in two Student Production Awards categories at the annual Rocky Mountain Emmys in September.
The awards recognize the work of outstanding high school and undergraduate college students while incentivizing them to pursue a career in journalism.
StingTV was honored for both their daily newscast and a Hollywood-themed Prom commercial.
In addition to the daily news reports, the students cover sporting events, scholarship nights, graduation, concerts and dances. The programs air in classrooms, StingTV’s website, YouTube channel or on social media.
Proud teacher Cory Lange said few high schools have a daily news show because it’s tough to pull together. His students are responsible for everything from scripts to anchoring, as well as audio engineering and directing. “We have game day every day. We don't have a week of practice, and then we have game night on Friday night, where people watch. We're on in front of everybody every single day. And so the pressure's there, but I think you hit the expectations that you set.”
Hoping to have his students recognized for hard work, on a whim Lange submitted a few entries to the National Academy of Television Arts & Science competition.
Kaylie Lange was one of eight students who flew to Phoenix to walk the red carpet on awards night. She was shocked when StingTV won but said the trophies were far from the only reward. “We got to go and see all these different shows which brought fresh ideas and motivation so we could come back and change our program and tweak some things so we can really improve. And it was really cool to see how we can grow even further.”
Talin Leavitt said things don’t always go as planned. She wanted to mix things up the first time she anchored the daily show so she asked the news team to sing a song from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
“And everyone came on and the singing was really bad," she laughed. "And then our green screen fell down and it got silent, and then the TC1 didn't change. So we just sat there while the green screen was gone and we didn't know what to do. I don't even know what the vision was. It was really embarrassing.”
Wright Thurston also talked about a live interview with the girls’ soccer team last year that went a bit sideways. The spectator dress theme was barbecue dads and soccer moms and he accidentally told everyone to go “make out” instead of “make it out” to the soccer game.
“We are a class that everybody sees every day. And so if something goes wrong, it's not like in pottery or in art, if you mess up nobody sees it. Whereas in here, everyone sees it," he said. "And so I think it definitely was rewarding to go and see what other schools have to offer and appreciate what we've done.”
The students said winning an Emmy and the opportunity to see the work of others has set a new target for their program. They don't want to just make a “fun little show” for the high school but aspire to be “the best there is.”
