By GINA TALAMO
Assistant News Editor
Ten Broadcast Club members were flying home tonight from the national Student Television Network convention in Los Angeles with senior Francesca Cocchi of Ocean bringing home first place for broadcast news writing and junior Olivia Reizer of Wall carrying an honorable mention award for anchoring.
Broadcast Club President Gia Reilly of Wall said from the airport in L.A. that the STN team, chaperoned by adviser and history teacher Bill Clark, was well rounded in a beneficial way. “We were able to compete in a variety of competitions, such as writing, on camera, editing, reporting, PSAs and more.”
Delegates for the “East Meets West” team, a logo they sported on their team T-shirts, included Cocchi, who is an Inkblot editor-in-chief; Reizer; Reilly; seniors Emily Frazee of Middletown, Danielle Leung of Lincroft and Jacob Pirogovsky of Ocean; and juniors Jacob Vernick of Ocean, Brendan Gosse of Middletown, Samantha Mustari of Colts Neck, and Jill DeFazio of Ocean.
The team left CHS with five days worth of luggage and equipment early Wednesday morning. STN began on the morning of Thursday, March 7, and concluded with the awards ceremony this morning.
Cocchi was originally chosen as an alternate for the STN trip, so the win for her was extremely satisfying. She replaced senior Christian Kelly of Brielle after he cancelled due to a personal scheduling conflict.
“I’m so happy that I had the chance to prove that I am a key member of this team. I wanted to do my best for myself, the team and Gia because I know how much faith she had in us. She believed in me and that gave me the confidence to keep the possibility of placing in the back of my mind,” Cocchi said.
The convention featured 27 onsite contests and more than 90 sessions with media and broadcast specialists. Approximately 2,600 students attended this year’s STN convention in California.
“I expected more upbeat city life, but everything ended up being very chill,” Reilly said before she boarded her flight back home. “Individual competitions went smoothly and everyone was able to hand their videos in on time,” she added.
The team was unable to make the deadline for the Sweet 16 competition due to file exporting issues, several team members confirmed. For this contest, teams are required to create broadcasts or films in less than 16 hours. The films themselves cannot exceed 16 minutes in length and the teams were allowed to shoot anywhere in the city of Los Angeles.
They started the video upload at 10 p.m., an hour before the contest deadline but it wasn’t enough time, one member said.
The team was expected to land late tonight in New York.