[JSR] WRHS 2018 Student Television Network Connection

This article was originally published on April 9, 2018
“3….2….1…. WOOHOO!!!” With the thrilling countdown, the Student Television Network announced its start for 2018. The STN convention took place at Nashville, Tennessee, with over 150 schools around the nation participating. STN is a convention where schools around the nation gather in one place and compete to create films or broadcast shows. Regardless of the category for the competition, the prompt is given in the morning and students have 3 hours to come up with a story and film, and 3 hours to edit. Continuing a 10 years-long tradition, West Ranch High School participated this year, and proudly brought home a victory.

West Ranch divided into teams and participated in various categories including: spotlight feature, natural sound package, movie trailer, commentary, tell the story, convention recap, anchoring, and live interview. West Ranch took 3rd place in movie trailer and 2nd place in convention recap . Alexis Francel, a senior at West Ranch High School shared her emotions: “I really wasn’t expecting anything, but when they announced our school name, I got chills and realized the amazing work.”

One category that schools compete as a team is called Crazy 8. Crazy 8 is creating an 8 minute broadcast show with a provided prompt. This year’s prompt was “We Got the Beat,” and West Ranch created a phenomenal video that was the most well done video out of any videos in the past. However, the results were much different from what was expected. The first place seemed far from “good” to many teammates. Students were absolutely stunned. There were tears and anger. Then the teacher, Mrs. Overdevest said, “Winning is not always everything. It is more important to learn a lesson from the experience.”

With that advice, students were able to recover from their sadness and build relationships with others. Caylen Greenberg, a sophomore, shared, “I think that STN was definitely a great experience for me. Whether you win or lose, you get to meet a lot of people who have same passion as you do from different states. That way, you can connect and communicate.”

Overall, STN can be seen as an experience where one learns a lesson, build relationships, and most importantly, learn.