About Me
My name is Sam Elliott, and I am a student reporter at Eagle Valley High School. I have been interested in journalism my entire life. Throughout high school I have been able to develop my skills and learn more about journalism and communication. This was my second year taking Advanced Broadcast Journalism, and I have greatly enjoyed it so far. My first year on staff at EVTV, I was a reporter. This year I have taken on more leadership responsibilities, first semester as a Co-Director of our Veterans History Project and now as a Producer of the program. EVTV has given me the resources and support to effectively report on the events happening within and impacting our community. My love for journalism comes from the opportunity it gives me to create something beautiful. To tell the truth and make it accessible. To meet new people and have powerful conversations. Journalism allows for me to better understand the world around me, and it empowers me to positively impact the lives of others.
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Veterans Day 2020
Earlier in the year, my adviser gave me the opportunity to take the lead on a collaboration with our local VFW to cover Veterans Day. The goal of this collaboration was to help connect our local veterans with students and community members on Veterans Day, since it wasn’t safe for veterans to visit the schools in person this year. The veterans wanted their stories and perspectives on life that were informed by their military experience heard. With the help of my adviser, Hannah Shapiro, and my co-director, Langston James, we were able to organize and conduct 12 in depth interviews with local veterans. I was lucky enough to be in the room operating the camera for a majority of these interviews and heard the incredible stories the veterans shared along with their thoughts and feelings about Veterans Day. I have never worked on a package that required the amount of time and work that this veterans project did. I felt personally obligated to ensure that this project's finished product would be at the highest possible quality. This project had the ability to greatly impact our community if executed correctly, so a lot of time was put into adjusting things such as the script and b-roll to continuously improve the package. On top of conducting interviews, gathering b-roll, writing a strong script to guide the audience, and instructing the rest of the EVTV staff on how to create their individual profiles, we sat down for many weekends and long nights to cut down roughly 14 hours of footage into a 20 minute Veterans Day special. I am extremely grateful for this experience, as it taught me valuable lessons in how to be a strong leader, maintain good organization, and effectively communicate with a team, all of which I recognize are essential skills to have in order to be a good journalist.
Earlier in the year, my adviser gave me the opportunity to take the lead on a collaboration with our local VFW to cover Veterans Day. The goal of this collaboration was to help connect our local veterans with students and community members on Veterans Day, since it wasn’t safe for veterans to visit the schools in person this year. The veterans wanted their stories and perspectives on life that were informed by their military experience heard. With the help of my adviser, Hannah Shapiro, and my co-director, Langston James, we were able to organize and conduct 12 in depth interviews with local veterans. I was lucky enough to be in the room operating the camera for a majority of these interviews and heard the incredible stories the veterans shared along with their thoughts and feelings about Veterans Day. I have never worked on a package that required the amount of time and work that this veterans project did. I felt personally obligated to ensure that this project's finished product would be at the highest possible quality. This project had the ability to greatly impact our community if executed correctly, so a lot of time was put into adjusting things such as the script and b-roll to continuously improve the package. On top of conducting interviews, gathering b-roll, writing a strong script to guide the audience, and instructing the rest of the EVTV staff on how to create their individual profiles, we sat down for many weekends and long nights to cut down roughly 14 hours of footage into a 20 minute Veterans Day special. I am extremely grateful for this experience, as it taught me valuable lessons in how to be a strong leader, maintain good organization, and effectively communicate with a team, all of which I recognize are essential skills to have in order to be a good journalist.
Jaime Macias Profile
My partner Jordan Neifert and I decided to do a profile on Jaime Macias when we found out he is the first male Devil Dancer (member of the dance team) because we wanted to share Jaime’s experiences with the rest of our school. This was not the first student profile that I have done, but it was definitely one of my favorites. During the interview process, Jaime shared his message about not letting others stand in your way and doing what you love, and his message really resonated with me. I prioritized structuring the story as a whole in a way that highlights this amazing message. In interviews with Jaime’s coach and teammates, I learned how well liked and respected Jaime is on and off the dance floor, and my partner and I made sure to emphasize this in how we sequenced and scripted the package as well. I felt that including shots of Jaime dancing was necessary to create a high quality story. We were able to get some shots at the football games this year, but getting to practices for b-roll was hard because of restrictions on the amount of people present and COVID-19 restrictions. So, another member of EVTV who is also on the Dance Team was able to get some of the b-roll since she was at practice and included in their numbers already. Also, Jaime was able to provide us with multiple pieces of footage that we used in the package. Being in close contact with not just Jaime, but his teammates and coach would not have been possible if not for the help of some of my classmates who are also a part of the dance team. The story wrote itself after I looked at what was being said in all of the interviews. I am very glad I was able to create this story to share a charismatic, energetic, and brave student with Eagle Valley High School.
My partner Jordan Neifert and I decided to do a profile on Jaime Macias when we found out he is the first male Devil Dancer (member of the dance team) because we wanted to share Jaime’s experiences with the rest of our school. This was not the first student profile that I have done, but it was definitely one of my favorites. During the interview process, Jaime shared his message about not letting others stand in your way and doing what you love, and his message really resonated with me. I prioritized structuring the story as a whole in a way that highlights this amazing message. In interviews with Jaime’s coach and teammates, I learned how well liked and respected Jaime is on and off the dance floor, and my partner and I made sure to emphasize this in how we sequenced and scripted the package as well. I felt that including shots of Jaime dancing was necessary to create a high quality story. We were able to get some shots at the football games this year, but getting to practices for b-roll was hard because of restrictions on the amount of people present and COVID-19 restrictions. So, another member of EVTV who is also on the Dance Team was able to get some of the b-roll since she was at practice and included in their numbers already. Also, Jaime was able to provide us with multiple pieces of footage that we used in the package. Being in close contact with not just Jaime, but his teammates and coach would not have been possible if not for the help of some of my classmates who are also a part of the dance team. The story wrote itself after I looked at what was being said in all of the interviews. I am very glad I was able to create this story to share a charismatic, energetic, and brave student with Eagle Valley High School.
History of Wish Week Feature
This year Eagle Valley’s fourth annual Wish Week fundraiser and celebration was different because of COVID-19. We couldn’t gather in large groups, so EVTV was tasked with helping move Wish Week to a virtual platform. In this package, my partner and I reported on the history of Wish Week at our school. This project aimed to inform our school on how Wish Week started, how it would be different this year, and the impact that Wish Week has had that we hopes continues moving forward. I really liked being able to look back at the celebrations and events that were held in years past. I also enjoyed hearing the perspective of the students and staff in charge of organizing Wish Week. A lot of the interviews concluded that even though things were going to be different this year, we all should make just as much of an effort to be charitable as in the past. One of the more difficult tasks of creating this story was putting in b-roll. There weren't in-person events happening to get footage of this year's Wish Week. So, we decided to primarily use footage of past Wish Weeks. This proved to be a challenge since that footage had to be moved around a lot in order to sync it. This was a great learning opportunity to refine my editing skills. With some hard work, we were able track down the highest quality shots from the past and incorporate them into our package. Another challenge we were faced with while making this package was finding students to interview, given our hybrid schedule and Student Council only meeting on Wednesdays. Fortunately, we were able to contact students who had recently graduated and were involved in planning previous Wish Weeks and interview them virtually. This was a crucial step as it allowed us to include student perspectives within the story. I am very proud of this package. We were able to inform our school of the history of Wish Week, encourage more people to contribute to Noah’s wish, and create more excitement for Wish Week as a whole, all of which were goals that we wanted to achieve in making this package.
This year Eagle Valley’s fourth annual Wish Week fundraiser and celebration was different because of COVID-19. We couldn’t gather in large groups, so EVTV was tasked with helping move Wish Week to a virtual platform. In this package, my partner and I reported on the history of Wish Week at our school. This project aimed to inform our school on how Wish Week started, how it would be different this year, and the impact that Wish Week has had that we hopes continues moving forward. I really liked being able to look back at the celebrations and events that were held in years past. I also enjoyed hearing the perspective of the students and staff in charge of organizing Wish Week. A lot of the interviews concluded that even though things were going to be different this year, we all should make just as much of an effort to be charitable as in the past. One of the more difficult tasks of creating this story was putting in b-roll. There weren't in-person events happening to get footage of this year's Wish Week. So, we decided to primarily use footage of past Wish Weeks. This proved to be a challenge since that footage had to be moved around a lot in order to sync it. This was a great learning opportunity to refine my editing skills. With some hard work, we were able track down the highest quality shots from the past and incorporate them into our package. Another challenge we were faced with while making this package was finding students to interview, given our hybrid schedule and Student Council only meeting on Wednesdays. Fortunately, we were able to contact students who had recently graduated and were involved in planning previous Wish Weeks and interview them virtually. This was a crucial step as it allowed us to include student perspectives within the story. I am very proud of this package. We were able to inform our school of the history of Wish Week, encourage more people to contribute to Noah’s wish, and create more excitement for Wish Week as a whole, all of which were goals that we wanted to achieve in making this package.
Dual Enrollment Weighted Grades News Feature
EVHS offers two kinds of college classes, Dual Enrollment (DE) classes and Advanced Placement classes, and our student handbook states both are entitled to a weighted grade, but this is not what happens in practice. Some DE classes, such as DE Weights, DE Culinary, DE Nursing, DE Broadcast Journalism, DE Filmmaking, do not get the weighted grade. The more my class talked about this, the more questions we had. My partner Kim Mayorga Escalante and I decided this was a big issue, that it sent messages about what courses are more valued, so we decided to investigate. The more we learned about the problem at hand, the larger the package became. This package took roughly two and a half months to complete, which was something I did not expect. A large percentage of time was spent on gathering interviews, watching interviews, realizing when we had been thrown off and questions had been dodged or avoided, and rescheduling more interviews, and asking different questions to try and get the answers about how this decision was made and what impact it has. Reporting on this package, I realized how important it was to represent all the different perspectives affected by the issue, and Kim and I made that the priority. This is the most challenging reporting I have done. It took a lot of time, hard work, reflection, collaboration, and problem solving. It was just published in our most recent episode, so I’m not sure how the community will react. But my partner and I put a lot of time and thought into our script to make sure we were telling the truth of the situation and helping people understand all perspectives in hopes it might prompt some re-evaluation and action.
EVHS offers two kinds of college classes, Dual Enrollment (DE) classes and Advanced Placement classes, and our student handbook states both are entitled to a weighted grade, but this is not what happens in practice. Some DE classes, such as DE Weights, DE Culinary, DE Nursing, DE Broadcast Journalism, DE Filmmaking, do not get the weighted grade. The more my class talked about this, the more questions we had. My partner Kim Mayorga Escalante and I decided this was a big issue, that it sent messages about what courses are more valued, so we decided to investigate. The more we learned about the problem at hand, the larger the package became. This package took roughly two and a half months to complete, which was something I did not expect. A large percentage of time was spent on gathering interviews, watching interviews, realizing when we had been thrown off and questions had been dodged or avoided, and rescheduling more interviews, and asking different questions to try and get the answers about how this decision was made and what impact it has. Reporting on this package, I realized how important it was to represent all the different perspectives affected by the issue, and Kim and I made that the priority. This is the most challenging reporting I have done. It took a lot of time, hard work, reflection, collaboration, and problem solving. It was just published in our most recent episode, so I’m not sure how the community will react. But my partner and I put a lot of time and thought into our script to make sure we were telling the truth of the situation and helping people understand all perspectives in hopes it might prompt some re-evaluation and action.
Minturn Bike Park Feature
On August 29, 2020, the Minturn Bike Park had its grand opening. A lot of time, money, and labor was put in to provide Eagle County with a high quality bike park. Being able to visit the bike park with a drone and special camera mounts for our normal camera made it possible for us to get beautiful shots of the park and interview a lot of the local riders. One of my favorite parts of this package was being able to witness how the bike park was impacting our community. The environment and culture of the park as a whole ensured everyone could have a positive experience. I quickly saw that the bike park appeals to all skill levels. It does not matter what level rider someone is; there is a natural progression everyone can use to improve their skills at a comfortable rate. My hope is that, through this story I was able to show others how accessible and inclusive the Minturn Bike Park is, celebrate it as an asset to our community, and encourage others to pick up a new hobby and try riding.
On August 29, 2020, the Minturn Bike Park had its grand opening. A lot of time, money, and labor was put in to provide Eagle County with a high quality bike park. Being able to visit the bike park with a drone and special camera mounts for our normal camera made it possible for us to get beautiful shots of the park and interview a lot of the local riders. One of my favorite parts of this package was being able to witness how the bike park was impacting our community. The environment and culture of the park as a whole ensured everyone could have a positive experience. I quickly saw that the bike park appeals to all skill levels. It does not matter what level rider someone is; there is a natural progression everyone can use to improve their skills at a comfortable rate. My hope is that, through this story I was able to show others how accessible and inclusive the Minturn Bike Park is, celebrate it as an asset to our community, and encourage others to pick up a new hobby and try riding.
Awards
First Place, Class I General Coverage CSMA Special COVID-19 Reporting Contest Window 1
First Place, Class I General Coverage CSMA Special COVID-19 Reporting Contest Window 2
First Place, Class I General Coverage CSMA Special COVID-19 Reporting Contest Window 3
Second Place, Sports Feature Broadcast CSMA Best of Colorado 2019-20
Honorable Mention, In Depth Special Report Broadcast CSMA Best of Colorado 2019-20
Most Improved Reporter 2019-2020 Eagle Valley Student Media
First Place, Class I General Coverage CSMA Special COVID-19 Reporting Contest Window 2
First Place, Class I General Coverage CSMA Special COVID-19 Reporting Contest Window 3
Second Place, Sports Feature Broadcast CSMA Best of Colorado 2019-20
Honorable Mention, In Depth Special Report Broadcast CSMA Best of Colorado 2019-20
Most Improved Reporter 2019-2020 Eagle Valley Student Media