Penn-Trafford video production students earn 3rd 'Best Newscast' award in 4 years

If the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences had a category for overcoming adversity, students and staff from Penn-Trafford High School’s video production program probably would have won that award as well.

Instead, they had to settle for being named best newscast for the third time in the past four years in the academy’s Mid-Atlantic division, along with bringing home awards for best public service announcement and best commercial.

In addition to working through the social-distancing restrictions imposed by a pandemic that has lasted the entire school year, video production teacher Steve Vinton was forced to take nearly the entire year off.

Josh Bujakowski, a 2015 Penn-Trafford and Point Park University graduate who’s pursuing his master’s degree at Drexel University, stepped in as Vinton’s long-term substitute this school year.

“I felt like there were big expectations going in, especially since the previous class had 16 nominations (and six wins),” Bujakowski said. “It was stressful as a teacher because I didn’t want to leave anything hanging there for Mr. Vinton. I know how important this is to the program.”

Sophomore Phelan Newman, 16, was co-producer with classmate Kenny Williams on a public service announcement highlighting the need for inclusiveness and drawing attention to the rise in hate crimes happening in the U.S.

The two had to meet via Zoom to plan out their project and largely used stock footage to create the PSA, “Equality is Beautiful.”

“It was pretty challenging,” Newman said. “Usually, we would use Final Cut Pro for this stuff, but we weren’t able to shoot a lot of footage, so we used a program called WeVideo that had a lot of stock footage of stuff we needed.”

Junior Ella Coy, along with students Ava Burdell and Skyler Hado, were part of a team nominated in the academy’s light news category, for a piece about the high school’s drama club and the challenges it overcame to record and stream its pandemic performances.

“We talked about how the club had to get creative in bringing these shows to people and the different ways it was able to get done,” Coy said.

But it was PTTV’s “Wake Up Warriors,” the video production program’s in-house newscast, that has earned them consistent accolades over the past four years.

Three groups of students rotate through the various PTTV stations, getting experience in all areas of production, editing and live broadcasting. Bujakowski said the group worked for about a month focusing on a flawless newscast they could submit.

“We’d get ready for the day and say, ‘Okay, this one is going to be our Emmy show,’” he said. “And if it didn’t work out, we’d try again the next day.”

Junior Becca Mills, 17, was working as graphics coordinator on the Feb. 1 newscast that was submitted and won. She said focusing on their normal work flow helped things along.

“I think what really was the magic trick that made it come together was, we’d been practicing for weeks, and then we stopped stressing out about it, just did it, and it all came together,” she said.

For Vinton, who returned to the district in early May, it was partly what he had expected from a program where products have been regularly recognized for excellence, but also a pleasant surprise.

“I give a ton of credit to Josh for stepping in and helping when I was out,” Vinton said. “I pushed really hard to get him, and thanks to (superintendent) Dr. Matt Harris for bringing him on board.”

Mills said she’s glad to be part of the group.

“It feels really good, like you’re a part of something bigger than yourself,” she said. “I know that sounds kind of cliché, but we’re sort of continuing a legacy, and it feels really good.”