WEST NEW YORK – William Collado and Juan Vega had no idea that their project to prevent students from drinking and driving would get national recognition. However, the two students from Memorial High School not only made an impression on their classmates and teachers, but they made an impact on the audience they were trying to reach. At a small press conference held at the school on Friday, Jan. 28, both students were awarded a $75 cash prize by the American Automobile Association for their 50-second public service announcement concerning drinking and driving. Their teacher said the project was a great achievement. “I’m very impressed with the way they stepped up to do the project and saw it through,” said Alix Polynice, a TV production teacher at Memorial. “I feel this particular award will motivate other students to get involved and participate in the creativeness of the program. The final project turned out so well that if I were looking at it from the outside, I would say they were good enough to compete on a professional level. That is something to be proud of .” Principal Tim Schroeder acknowledged the great effort the two students had made and said it was an example of what the school tries to instill in the students. “When we get together with our kids, we want them to feel they can do anything they want to do in life,” said Schroeder. “Will and Juan have really given us the opportunity to showcase the type of work our students do here at Memorial. It’s great recognition for a program that not only motivates students, but allows them to work together to make positive changes.” The Tiger TV Station at Memorial High School has operated its audio/video production studio for nearly 10 years, giving students the opportunity to take video production courses and progress to video journalism on a professional level. As part of the program, they host their own one-hour simulation of a “60 Minutes” telecast which airs every Friday at 8 p.m. on Channel 38. The coordinator of their education media program, Douglas Neralich, said the courses have allowed students to give back to their peers. “We are very proud of the accomplishments our students have been able to achieve,” said Neralich, who has been at Memorial for 15 years and with the program for nine. “Will and Juan are just one of the examples of what can be done when you believe in these kids. What they have done not only reflects on the video program and their community, but when you see two kids come from West New York move on to a national competition, you can’t help but say, YES!” In a competition that put Will and Juan up against high schools from Hudson, Bergen and Passaic Counties, they placed second in the audio/video category of the annual statewide competition sponsored by Triple AAA. After being judged by independent panelists, participants’ projects were selected on their effectiveness and way they transmitted their message to the youth. As the boys go on now to the national competition in a few months, a spokesperson from Triple AAA said the selections weren’t easy decisions. “This year we had a lot of good entries for this competition,” said Walter Tomasheski, a New Jersey representative for AAA. “Students were very creative in what they submitted and I think the boys did very well considering they were up against all these schools in NJ. They should be proud of what they’ve accomplished. It says a lot about them.” Though they were the only winners from Hudson County out of the 20 finalists that were selected, they were surprised about their good fortune, and were glad that what they were trying to do was noticed. “We tried to come up with different things, like clips from movies and ideas from the community, to get the most effect,” said Collado, 16, who is a sophomore at Memorial. “It wasn’t just something we came up with. It took us two weeks of thinking and a lot of work to just figure out what we wanted to communicate. Once we got there, we were confident we could create something good.” His partner, Juan Vega, agreed that their hard work definitely paid off. “After we knew the direction we were going in, we had a feeling we were going to do well,” said Vega, a 15-year-old freshman and former summer intern for Tiger TV. “Just winning this award with Will is a great motivation for us to enter more contests. I hope what we’ve done will inspire students to keep that high standard of performance always in the program, and when they do something, they’ll know that it will have to be great because that’s what this program is about.” Some students who came to cheer the pair on were not only inspired, by proud of their classmates. “They did a good job on the piece,” said sophomore Jorge Flores, who was sitting with three of his friends. “The guys really worked hard and they showed it could be done. They’re a good example for all of us, and it will definitely motivate students to do better.”
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
