Not too many teenagers can say they have won the student-equivalent of an Emmy Award – even fewer that can say they've done it twice, back-to-back.
Hanahan High’s media tech program is led by teacher Jerry Hines. His Media Tech 3 and 4 students run the school’s weekly news program, “Hawks Eye View”.
While they are all familiar with the “news” business, the media tech students got some pretty big news themselves last year when they were named the 2023 Best Newscast in the Southeast by the National Academy for Screen Arts and Sciences – or NATAS – in the academy’s Student Production award group.
NATAS is the same governing entity over the annual Emmy Awards program. It was Hanahan High's first time winning the award after submitting for it a few times in previous years.
The students are back at it again; not only did Hanahan win for Best Newscast for 2024, a separate episode was also nominated for the recognition.
“We’re pretty excited about winning back to back years,” Hines said. “It’s pretty crazy, and I still can’t wrap my head around being the best High School Student Newscast in the entire Southeast. It was also a huge honor to be nominated twice for Best Newscast – two years in a row for that too.”
NATAS distributes awards that go far beyond the well-known television show category; awards are given out for sports coverage, news, documentaries and more. There is also a student production category that recognizes high school students working in the media field.
It should be noted that technically Emmy Awards only go out to professionals working the television field, not students. However, the recognition that Hanahan High has received is considered to be like a student-equivalent of an Emmy Award, and submissions are looked at by the same judges. Hanahan High continues to dominate in the southeast region of the country.
Hines’s students from the 2023-2024 school year won the award for their May 2024 prom episode, which was shot on-location during the school's prom and also included feature stories from the week leading up to prom. A majority of the students who worked on that episode were part of Hanahan High's graduating class of 2024. This current school year’s group was nominated for their Homecoming episode, which aired last November. Main anchor Molli Ducker and feature story reporter Conner Requidan, both seniors, are credited for working on both the Prom and the Homecoming episodes.
BCSD would like to congratulate all Hanahan High media tech students – both current and alumni members – for this huge accomplishment!
Credits for the 2024 Prom episode (won – view video)
Executive Producer
Sydney Charles (alum)
Main Anchor
Molli Ducker
Editors
Ella Patrick (alum)
Molli Ducker
Staff
Stefani Becerra-Juan
Sophia Bennett (alum)
Hailee Getsinger (alum)
Clay Horner (alum)
Nick Joda (alum)
Cade Knight (alum)
Tatum Lau
Hannah Grace McCown (alum)
Habiba Mohamed (alum)
Jamurri Moore (alum)
Ella Patrick (alum)
Conner Requidan
Kevon Rivera (alum)
Andrew Roblero (alum)
Yahir Vega (alum)
Logan Williams (alum)
Weather
Mason Lanot (alum)
Sports
Veda Barry (alum)
Jake Semmler (alum)
Paulo Zielinski Filho (alum)
Credits for the Homecoming episode (nominated – view video)
Executive Producer
Samantha Wanner
Main Anchor
Molli Ducker
Editor
Jesus Benitez Antonio
Staff
Jackson Behan
Javio Brown
Sawyer Brunell
Neil Campbell
Lexi Dial
India Drayton
Jacob Fletcher
McKenna Hanna
Jessica Higareda
Omar Mohamed
Jackson Phillips
Conner Requidan
Tradd Siegling
Stephan Slaughter
Jordan Stamps
Will Zeron
Sports
Ava Crawford
Lauren Furse
Camdyn Lawson
Justin Maduro