Lake Orion High School is not only the home of the award-winning WDBC Dragon Broadcasting program, but after this year’s MIPA (Michigan Interscholastic Press Association) Awards, it is also the home to the Michigan Video Student of the Year.
Senior Kyle Snage was selected as ‘All-MIPA,? the highest honor a video student can receive. Besides bragging rights, he was also awarded a $500 scholarship to the Michigan State School of Journalism.
According to broadcasting teacher Roger Smith, the idea is that every school gets to submit one student on their behalf. This is the first year that Lake Orion has submitted a person for the award.
Snage, who has been part of Television Production Workshop (TPW) for two years, had to submit an essay, resume, compilation video and six letters of recommendation to be considered for the award.
Since only one student from each school can be submitted, Smith had his interested seniors write the essay portion of the application, and then he, with the help of other teachers, picked the best essay out and that student was able to submit their application as representative for Lake Orion.
‘It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off and it feels good to be noticed,? Snage said.
Snage also won first place in the feature story category, and was recognized in both the anchor and reporter categories.
Snage, who is planning on attending Michigan State University in the fall to study communications, said that anchoring and directing are his favorite parts of television production.
‘I like ‘steering the ship? and being in charge,? he said.
Snage said that he also likes editing and being able to put together something that he sees in his head. One of the projects he edited this year was a story to raise money for the Veterans Memorial.
‘I did (the project) for the class, but I also did it to give back to the community,? he added, saying that the Veterans project was the most worthwhile project he felt he worked on.
While Smith said that any one of his students could have been entered and been good representation for Lake Orion, Snage has an extremely strong work ethic and dedication.
‘I give my number out to the students, and Kyle is the kind of kid who would call in the middle of the summer with ideas,? Smith said, saying that he probably talked to Snage about once a week in the summer about video-related ideas.
Smith added that he has a whole class full of dedicated students and while they don’t create for the purpose of winning awards, it is nice to see the students recognized for their talent, dedication and hard work.
Smith’s students entered items in 15 categories, and finished first place in five of the categories. Overall, Lake Orion walked away with 21 awards, the most any school was awarded.
Along with Snage’s first place in feature story, other Lake Orion first place finishers were Adam Blascak (commercial); Mallory Malloy, Ashley Brooks, Olivia Gross and Sean Zioncheck (best graphics); Sean Zioncheck (editorial commentary) and Rachelle Boudry (MIPA PSA).
‘LO-AM? was named as third best high school newscast in the state, ‘Dragon Digest? was named third best community program (produced by high schoolers) in the state and WDBC Dragon Broadcasting finished as one of the top three high school programs in the state.
Senior Emily Rupp also finished as one of the 15 finalists in the 2007 Courageous Persuaders contest, a national program where students create anti-drinking PSAs. Over 1,000 entries were submitted in this contest and Rupp placed in the top 15.
WDBC Dragon Broadcasting can be visited at www.dragonbroadcasting.org, or through the high school’s website at www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us/lohs.