Penn-Trafford students bring home awards from digital media competition

Penn-Trafford students Conner Alexander, Amanda Bobish and Paul Mills were in the middle of a live broadcast, during the third quarter of the 2021 PIAA football semifinals, when a nightmare scenario for a first-time sportscaster began unfolding.

“It was taking forever to get this call sorted out on the field,” said Penn-Trafford video production teacher Steve Vinton. “And they jumped right in and filled the time with stats, talked about the game: They improvised perfectly.”

Their work during the third quarter helped earn them a “Best in Category: Live Event” award at the 2022 Digital Media Arts Consortium sponsored by Robert Morris College, where the work of high school media production students is showcased and recognized annually.

Penn-Trafford students are no strangers to that recognition, and this year was no exception.

In addition to the live event award, they earned “Award of Excellence” recognition in the documentary, public service announcement and feature package categories. And senior Jake Pleins won the Founders’ Award for his work on a documentary about the Warrior football team’s state title run in 2021.

“It was a three-month project with 80 hours of editing and hundreds of gigabyes of video that we shot,” said Pleins, 18. “Originally, we were just going to do the documentary about the team playing at Heinz Field, but they kept on winning and we kept traveling to Hershey.”

Junior Phelan Newman’s public service announcement used a devastatingly simple concept — a crushed-up piece of paper — to send a strong message about the effects of bullying.

“There wasn’t a lot of high-production value to it,” Newman said. “I just used a simple ring light on the paper and shot it.”

Created in partnership with the nonprofit Blackburn Center in Greensburg, Vinton said Newman came up with an easy-to-understand idea “that was just really, really effective.”

“I feel like video production helps me find ways to express myself,” Newman said. “No matter what size budget you have, you can still make art.”

Alexander was mostly just glad he and his broadcast team made it through the third quarter, but also came away with valuable experience.

“It was a real hands-on feel for what live broadcasting is like,” he said. “That was really amazing.”

Below, see the Penn-Trafford video production students’ work.

Alexander, Bobish & Mills’ PIAA broadcast video package:

A clips package from the football documentary Pleins and others worked on:

Newman’s PSA:

And senior Morgan Fong’s feature package on “You’re Got a Friend Day” at Twin Lakes Park: