Steele High School

Congratulations to the Steele News Live Class of 2012: C.J. Basinski, Kasey Carrender, Hannah Thome, Kaytee Newton, Marcus Zappa, Emma McGuire, Abby Kneisel, Alison Gillam, Brennan Hosier, Lauren Hilko, Jessica Braid, Allie Engle, Ryan Lamb, Jaliah Neely, Matthias Obran, Jen Sutton, Mackenzie Tomlinson, Nolan Reiter, Ally Lewandowski, Maddie Miller

The Senior TV Class had another successful trip to New York in January. Members of the class took an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the state-of-the-art Major League Baseball Network studios, met for a personal conversation with ESPN anchor Jay Crawford, toured NBC Studios, and took in all of the other tourist attractions including a Broadway show and a New York Knicks game.

Connor Weir, Jim Adkins, Jessica Avolt, Steven Loos, Xris Karaplis, Kathryn Slotta, Chelsea Kurtz, Jerred Adams, Luke Zemanek, Bethany Miller, Katie Kulasa, Julia Scrofano, Veronica Arthur-Mensah, Valerie Facemire, Jessica Sand, Jenna Veard, Sarah Funderburg, Erin Mount, Bridgette Cruz, and Brett Smith.

The Steele News Live Team produces between 140 and 150 live 11-minute newscasts per year. The shows are seen in every classroom at Steele and are rebroadcast four times daily on Warner Cable Channel 99 and are available here on the SNL Webpage. Since the National Television Academy began handing out the Student Television Awards for Excellence in 2003 (better known as the Student Emmy Awards) the kids from Amherst have earned 22 Regional Student Emmy Awards and two National Student Emmys. The regional total triples any other school in Ohio and no other Ohio school has earned a National Award. Unfortunately, due to funding issues, the NTA did not hold a competition in our region in 2009. The NTA has every intention of holding this prestigious competition again for the 2009-2010 school year. The SNL Team recently joined nearly 900 other schools as part of the Student Television Network. This organization holds various contests throughout the year and the SNL Class of 2009 earned three second-place finishes in this extremely competitive nationwide competition. Lindsey VanSparrentak earned a 2nd for her News Story on the Amherst School Levy, and the entire class earned two 2nd place awards in the Best Daily Live Newscast category.

Steele News Live - Winners of Two National Student Emmy Awards and 22 Regional Student Emmy Awards.

Congratulations to the following new members of the Steele News Live family who will be anchoring and producing Steele News Live during the 2010-2011 school year: Sara Andrews, Olivia Cotton, Brooke Squires, Kelsey Rish, Kaylee Koller, Kate Bansek, Erin Moran, Travis Kurtz, Abby Rositano, Robby Jancsura, Jackie Watson, Jason Bodnar, Abby DeFilippo, Austin Shuman, David Purcel, Jason Stump, Jordan Simmons, McKayla Balzer, Allie Miller, Ashley Bastock.

Lindsey Vansparrentak, Gary Haglund, Anna Marr, Josh Gonzalez, Lauren Percival, Angie Pellittieri, Olivia Sliman, Bailee Openshaw, Katie Schuster, Monique Zappa, Josh Sanchez, Brandon Morgan, Danielle Cocco, David Harkacz, Chris Volante, Brandon Kish, Katlyn Jeffreys, Cassie Neiden, Izzy Adamcek, Erin Riley.

Observation deck of the Empire State Building

Members of the 2008 Senior TV Class at Steele will have memories to last a lifetime following their three-day trip to New York City over MLK weekend. The class toured NBC Studios in Rockefeller Center, ate at the ESPN Zone in Times Square, and made a brief appearance on The Today Show. They also took in the usual tourist sights like Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, went to the top of the Empire State Building, and attended a New York Knicks-Boston Celtics basketball game. The entire trip was funded by the 2007 PowderPuff Football games, the Steele News Live Telethon, and individual student payments.

Miranda Szucs, Courtney Jarvis, Mark Coughlin, Brittany Perez, Bobby Dorrance, Zach Druga, Kevin Harroff, Kaitlyn Melendez, Megan Vollmer, Dan Keisman, Matt Eibon, Brennan Muhic, Shannon Orr, Kaitlyn Gray, Madelyn Moore, Eric Caples, Missy Arendash, John Salter, David Cantu, Melissa Moore.

Senior TV Class Wins National Emmy Award and Five Regional Emmys

The results are in for this year’s National Student Television Awards, known as the “Student Emmy Awards” sponsored by the National Television Academy. The Steele News Live Class of 2007 can once again claim that their work is among the best in the United States. In fact, NO other high school in the United States earned more Student Emmy Awards than Amherst’s combined six (One National and Five Regional).

Amherst senior Emily Brumenschenkel is the National Student Emmy Award Winner in Sports for her three-part series titled “Girl Among Boys.” In this series Emily worked out in the weight room with the football team, challenged the wrestling team during practice, and even put on the pads to face the hockey team as a goalie for a practice. Each winner, chosen from 600 high school entries, will be the guest of the National Television Academy for the National Awards Ceremony on May 1 in New York.

On the Regional Award level the seniors earned five of a possible seven Student Emmy Awards and six of the nine Honorable Mentions awarded. Those winning entries are as follows:

In the category of Arts & Entertainment, Tiffany Dziak and Maggie Brown won the award for their Steele Spotlight, and Tealla Scrofano received Honorable Mention for “Artists at Work.” “Protect Yourself,” by Tealla Scrofano, Maggie Brown, Kayley Kosik, and Tiffany Dziak, won the award for Public Affairs/Public Service, and Lauren Phiel, Sarah Levanduski, Kayla Pijor, and Giuliana Montagnese received honorable mention for “Teen Suicide.” In the News category, Kayley Kosik and Tealla Scrofano picked up the award for “Daytime Curfew,” and Kayla Pijor received honorable mention for “Lessons from Three Lives.”

The Writing award went to Billy Richter and Emily Brumenschenkel for “Steele Soldiers,” and Tealla Scrofano and Kayley Kosik’s “Daytime Curfew” received honorable mention.

Emily Brumenschenkel and Anthony Karhusz’s “Girl Among Boys” won the Sports category, and “1st and 10,” by Billy Richter and Emily Brumenschenkel, won for Technical Achievement. Finally, a Documentary honorable mention went to Anthony Karhusz, Jocelyn Cruz, Stacey Cruzado, Vanessa Oster, and Emily McKitrick for “Myspace... Anybody's Space.” We are very proud of our Steele News Live team!

Students from Amherst Steele's senior TV class can once again claim that their work is among the best in the United States. The students recently earned one Crystal Award of Excellence and three Awards of Distinction in the 2006 International Communicator Awards.

According to the Communicator Awards web site, "Entries are judged against a high standard of excellence. The Award of Excellence is given to those entries whose ability to communicate puts them among the best in the field." Seniors Tealla Scrofano and Kayley Kosik's story on Amherst's new Daytime Curfew earned the Crystal Award of Excellence. "We worked on this story for four months," said Scrofano. "I never thought it would be possible to win an award like this." Kosik added, "Winning this award is a real honor. We each spent approximately 70 hours working on this story. It's nice to see that our hard work paid off."

Of the 1,698 entries in the video category, only 12% earned the Crystal Award of Excellence and only three other high schools earned top honors. The students' work was entered along with videos from major corporations, professional TV stations and video production houses, colleges, and other educational institutions.

In addition, senior Kayla Pijor's touching story about three former students who passed away titled "Lessons From Three Lives," a Steele News Live newscast from October 12, 2006 directed by Matt Irvin, and a compilation of public service announcements produced by the entire senior TV class each earned an Award of Distinction.

The awards season is complete for the senior TV class. After winning six regional EMMY Awards in May, the Steele News Live team can now boast a National EMMY Award. Class of 2006 graduates Evan Melendez, Terry Traster, and David Gonzalez were presented with the National Student EMMY Award in News at a formal banquet in New York City on June 9. The event, put on by the National Television Academy, saluted one national winner in each of the seven competition categories in this year's National Student Television Awards For Excellence. Amherst Steele joined schools from Florida, Hawaii, California, Utah, and New York at the ceremony.

Amherst's winning entry was in the News category. The three students produced a 5-minute feature story on Steele freshman Kristina Sliman. "This is a piece that I wish when I was running the ABC Evening News I would have had on my broadcast, it is so good and moving," said The Foundation of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Executive Director Av Westin. "This brought a tear to my eye."

In four years of the National Student Television Award For Excellence competition, Amherst Steele has earned one national EMMY, 11 regional EMMYS, and 13 Honorable Mentions. Award Photo

The Senior TV Class had the opportunity to travel to New York over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend to mix education and fun. The SNL Team toured NBC Studios where they sat in the Saturday Night Live studio, saw the Conan O'Brien set, and stood in the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams newsroom. They also had dinner in the ESPN Zone in Times Square with ESPN anchor Jay Crawford who offered career advice to the class for an hour. The seniors also joined thousands to watch Barack Obama's inauguration in Rockefeller Center. While TV was the focus of the trip, the class managed to see the Statue of Liberty, go to the top of the Empire State Building, tour Central Park, and view Ground Zero among other things. The entire trip was funded by the SNL Telethon, PowderPuff Football and through individual student payments.

The Senior TV Class from Steele has done it again! Awards have been announced in this year's National Student Television Awards, known as the "Student Emmy Awards" sponsored by the National Television Academy. The Steele News Live Class of 2008 once again dominated the Lower Great Lakes Region by winning six of a possible seven Regional Student Emmy Awards. The NTA's Lower Great Lakes Region which spans parts of four states. The SNL Class of 2008 also earned eight of the ten Honorable Mentions awarded in the region. Those winning entries are as follows:

Fine Arts & Entertainment, Miranda Szucs, Megan Vollmer, and Courtney Jarvis won the award for their "Art in Three Forms," and Bobby Dorrance received Honorable Mention for his Music Intro Composite. "Be aware of Your Actions," by Kait Melendez, Madelyn Moore, and Miranda Szucs, won the award for Public Affairs/ Public Service, and Mark Coughlin, Zach Druga, and John Salter received honorable mention for "Germs," and the second honorable mention went to Shannon Orr, Melissa Moore, Brittany Perez, and Kaitlyn Gray for "Decisions Made Now Determine Your Future." In the News and Writing categories, Megan Vollmer, Courtney Jarvis, Miranda Szucs and seven-year-old Emily Zichi picked up the awards for "Emily's Hopeful Holiday." Brittany Perez, Kaitlyn Gray, Melissa Moore received honorable mention in Writing for "House Bill 230" and "Joey's New Normal" by Shannon Orr and Missy Arendash also received honorable mention.

David Cantu, Madelyn Moore, and Kaitlyn Melendez's "Premier Soccer Academy" won the Sports category, and "Real Role Models" by Brennan Muhic received honora ble mention. Dan Keisman and Kevin Harroff earned a student Emmy in Craft for "Televators." Finally, a Documentary (Long Form) honorable mention went to Missy Arendash, Shannon Orr, and six-year-old Joey Elswick for "Joey's New Normal." A second honorable mention went to Kaitlyn Gray, Melissa Morre, and Brittany Perez for "House Bill 230." We are very proud of our Steele News Live team! Award winners are available on the Steele News Live website soon.

Over the past three years the SNL Team has earned 17 of the 21 Regional Student Emmy Awards handed out in the Lower Great Lakes Region along with the 2007 National Student Emmy Award in Sports and the 2006 National Student Emmy Award in News. Since the NTA began the awards competition in 2003 the SNL Team has collected 22 Regional Emmys.

The 1st Annual Steele News Live Telethon was a total success! Students from the Senior TV Class were on the air for 12 hours Saturday and raised a total of $6,030 in the process. Local businesses sponsored the Steele News Live team and viewers phoned in pledges during the live telecast.

One-third of the money will be used for equipment repairs, new equipment, award entries, and other class expenses while the remainder will be devoted the the class' trip to New York City in January. The class would like to thank everybody who called in pledges and the sponsors.