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Many college students hope that if they are assigned a group projHFW, WKHy rHFHLvH D JRRG JrDGH. SRPH PDy HvHn hope to do a good enough job that they can then use that project for a job application. For one local woman, the accolades for her project are a little more prestigious — an Emmy nomination.
Blue Bell resident Cortney Brooks, a senior at 1HuPDnn UnLvHrVLWy, rHcently learned she and her classmates had been nominated by the National Academy of TelevLVLRn $rWV DnG SFLHnFHV, or NATAS, for a regional college Emmy award for D vLGHR SrRMHFW WKHy GLG for school.
7KH WKHPH RI WKH vLGHR was “uniquely personal,” a motto of the school. 7KH REMHFWLvH ZDV WR LnWHrvLHZ IDFuOWy DnG VWudents around campus and ask them to name an aspect of the school that they would describe as uniquely personal.
Brooks said the project was assigned as part of a senior seminar in the communication department. Neumann professor Karen Thomas, of Fox 29 news, GLvLGHG WKH FODVV LnWR groups of four and tasked them with producing two 10-PLnuWH vLGHRV.
For more than a month, the 22-year-old Brooks said she and her group members trekked across FDPSuV LnWHrvLHZLnJ HvHryRnH IrRP WKH DvHrDJH VWuGHnW WR WKH vLFH SrHVLGHnW RI WKH unLvHrVLWy. She called the project “teGLRuV” JLvHn WKH DPRunW of hours spent working on it and the fact that for the Wissahickon High School graduate, it was the first time she had used the camera equipment.
The project was such a hit for the class, Brooks said, Thomas sent it off to see if it could potentially earn a nomination from NATAS. Thomas told her the group would find out by August, she said.
By the time the middle of August rolled around, there was still no staWuV DERuW WKH vLGHR DnG Brooks said she began to lose hope.
YHW LW ZDVn’W unWLO WKH end of the month when Brooks said her luck finally changed. An email from Thomas appeared in her inbox and Brooks checked her phone and read “Congratulations on NATAS Emmy nomination,” written in all capital letters. She said the initial news came as a “shock,” and she “just started screaming” for joy.
Her group members, she said, are equally as excited and proud of the vLGHR EHFDuVH LW ErLnJV D recognition to her school, which, she said, isn’t well-known for its communication and media arts department.
7KH vLGHR DOVR FRnfirPHG that she had made the right decision in choosing to become a communication and media arts major at school, she said. Her interHVW Ln WKH fiHOG JRHV EDFN to her days at Wissahickon ZKHn JRW LnvROvHG ZLWK the school’s TV station, she said, and she knew she could see herself pursuing D FDrHHr Ln WKH fiHOG. SKH said she plans to pursue a career in broadcast journalism in the future and KRSHV WR ODnG KHr firVW MRE as a production assistant before climbing the ladder to on-camera anchor.
For now, though, Brooks and the rest of her group ZLOO KDvH WR ZDLW. 7KH awards ceremony will be held Sept. 22 at the Hilton HRWHO Rn CLWy LLnH $vHnuH, she said. About 400 broadcast professionals are exSHFWHG WR DWWHnG WKH HvHnW, Brooks said, and Neumann is footing the bill for the $100 per person tickets for each group member. She said she plans to take her dad as her date.
7KH JrRuS’V vLGHR KDV been entered in the “general news assignment” category and will square off against a team from 7HPSOH UnLvHrVLWy.
Brooks said she and her group are “extremeOy nHrvRuV” WR FRPSHWH against Temple, because of the quality of its enWrLHV IrRP SrHvLRuV yHDrV, but like the good nominee she is, she said, “Just being nominated is good enough for me.”