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Hopi High media students were all smiles
at the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association Conference.
They are, from left, Breanna Saufkie, Janissa "eeesa"
Lahaleon, Issac Talas-Lomayaktewa, Diondre Onsae, Serena Leslie,
Elisa "Mouth" Casares, Kyle Secakuku, Amber Polacca,
Krista "Double K" Koyaquaptewa and Ronald Lopez.
Photo/Stan Bindell
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TEMPE, AZ The Hopi High School broadcast radio program won
three awards at the Arizona Interscholastic Press Association (AIPA)
Conference Oct. 27 at Arizona State University.
The awards are based on work done during last year's school
year, so the winners from Hopi High School have already moved on
to college. Storm Tso, who is at the University of New Mexico, won
two awards. Krienne "Crayon" Pahovama won one state award. They
both also won radio awards at AIPA last year.
Tso earned an honorable mention for her sports story "Basketball
ranked eighth." She also won an honorable mention for her feature
story "Pahovama goes to college." Pahovama earned an excellent in
another broadcast category.
Tso, who is majoring in public communication and political science
at UNM, said she was surprised that she won this year.
"I didn't really feel that my pieces were that great when I
first wrote them. But I'm still pretty happy about it," she said.
Tso said she is proud of Pahovama for winning another state
award.
"We have been in radio together from the beginning. We've seen
each other grow. It's great to see each other do great," she said.
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Hopi
Jr./Sr. High School's Radio Class
Imagine young people and adults using their own language to
carry on public discourse, expressions of art or engaging
in conversations of literature, public affairs and politics?
That is the vision of KUYI's Youth Broadcast Program that
recruits local youth to participate in KUYI's development
as a radio station. Tune in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, August
through May, to hear our Hopi High youth in action!
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The Hopi High radio students are known for the Hopi High Teen
Show, the only live remote Native American teen talk show in the
nation. It goes out over KUYI, the largest wattage public Native
American radio station in the continental 48 states. For the first
time in more than 15 years, the program is on hold because KUYI
is relocating.
Tso said her favorite part of the radio program was going to
KUYI to broadcast. She also enjoyed going to state and national
conferences to meet new people.
"I would really like to take radio while I'm here (at UNM) and
be back on the air," she said. "I really miss it. The best memories
I have from radio are probably the field trips and interesting people
that I got to interview."
Her advice to incoming radio students at Hopi High is to take
advantage of what's out there.
"Everything is different off the reservation," she said. "Things
that the school is paying for, like conferences, we have to pay
for ourselves. Network with all the people you meet at the conferences.
It will really help you out in the long run. But most of all, take
this class seriously. You have the opportunity to learn a lot...
Take advantage of that because you can make a career out of it.
Looking back, I could have done a lot more in that class. It doesn't
seem like it, but the school puts a lot of effort into getting you
guys on the air, so be thankful."
Tso said radio has helped other people overcome shyness.
"I've never been afraid to talk to people or in front of crowds,"
she said.
Ten media students from Hopi High attended AIPA as they learned
from breakout sessions and listened to speakers.
Breanna Saufkie, a senior print journalism student at Hopi High,
said she learned a lot about journalism at the conference. She liked
a speech by Arizona State Sen. Kimberly Yee, who was a journalism
student when she was in high school, who spoke about the need to
not censor high school journalism students.
"Yee thinks that high school students should have a voice and
we should all be able to express our own opinions," she said. "We
should be allowed to tell stories that interest us."
Yee is the first Asian American woman elected to serve in the
state legislature and spoke about battling discrimination.
"She used that as an example that where you come from, your
gender or who you are shouldn't stop you from achieving your dreams,"
Saufkie said. "She gave us girls and minorities hope that we can
be successful in the work field."
Saufkie is considering minoring in print journalism, but the
conference also sparked an interest in video for her.
The Hopi High media students attended two sessions. Saufkie
attended one session about "Extreme Editing" and another session
on "Starting young shouldn't be scary." The presenter for the second
session was Alexa Tieu, promotion producer for Fox Sports Arizona.
She talked about starting her career when she was young.
Saufkie stepped out of her comfort zone for a video interview
as she interviewed Scottsdale Community College graphic design teacher
Rick Burress, who spoke about the difference between hearing and
listening.
"I felt honored to interview him. His speech gave inspiration
to many students because he talked about different styles of listening,"
she said.
Saufkie said it was exciting to watch Hopi High win three state
media awards.
Elisa "Mouth" Caserez, editor of the Hopi High Bruin Times,
noted that about 500 journalism students attended AIPA and that
there were 32 presentations broken into two sessions. Her first
session was about how to write sports stories, especially features.
Her second session was about the rules of designing a newspaper
and how to break those rules like an artist.
"When I went to the conference I saw fierce competition when
it came to the journalism skills. This trip motivates me to encourage
more Natives to enter the journalism field," she said.
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Hopi
High's Krista Kayquatptewa interviews Arizona State Sen. Kimberly
Yee. Photo/Stan Bindell
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Krista "Double K" Kayaquaptewa, a sophomore radio student, performed
a video interview with Yee.
"I was nervous, but I was excited to do it because it was my
first video interview. I was scared I wasn't going to do it right,"
she said. "I was scared but interested in what she had to say because
she fought for high school journalism students and you wouldn't
think that's something a state senator would do," she said.
Kayaquaptewa said the conference was amazing because so many
students were interested in radio, broadcast and journalism.
"I loved the feeling we got when we walked into the conference.
There was a feeling that was outgoing, happy and involved students
were all around," she said.
Kayaquaptewa said the best part of the conference was going
to different sessions to learn about different types of journalism.
She learned about the different opportunities that are available
for journalism students.
She also liked Burris' speech about the difference between listening
and hearing.
"He understood the generation we are in and included us in terms
we could understand," she said.
Kayquaptewa was proud of Hopi's three awards.
"I felt like a pretty good student attending an amazing journalism
class and seeing my classmates winning three state awards. It was
a good feeling reflecting on us upcoming students," she said. "I'm
going to attempt to try to win a state award next year."
Kayquaptewa said this trip encourages her to do more with journalism
and consider the different job opportunities in journalism.
Isaac Talas-Lomayaktewa, a freshman print journalism student,
said the conference was amazing because he learned about sports
journalism. His first session was "Sports Stories Beyond the Games"
by Paul Coro and the second was "On the Record about Sports Journalism"
by Chris Cole.
"They were interesting speakers. I loved how they discussed
what they do in their job and how they got to their position," he
said.
Coro is an interviewer for a website and the senior writer for
the Arizona Republic.
"I loved his speech and it inspired me to be a sports interviewer,"
he said.
Janissa Lahaleon, a senior print journalism student, said the
sessions were her favorite part of the conference. Her first session
was "Extreme Editing" by Lisa Baker. Lahaleon said this session
was interesting and informative. Her second session was "Starting
Young shouldn't be scary" by Tieu.
"She made the session fun and entertaining," Lahaleon said.
Lahaleon said she was surprised that Hopi High won three state
awards.
"It motivated some of us to enter our work for awards for next
year," she said. "It was awesome that we won. I am proud of the
two individuals who won from Hopi High."
Lahaleon said this trip encourages her to do more with media
and photography.
"It was fun taking pictures and capturing the moments," she
said.
Ronald Lopez, a junior print journalism student, said attending
the sessions was fun. His sessions were about protecting student
journalists and photographers of the future. He interviewed students
from other schools in the Phoenix area.
"This made me think about journalism in my future. I'm thinking
about getting a minor in journalism. Journalism is fun, but you
have to keep up on all your work," he said.
Lopez said it was awesome that students from Hopi High won awards
"because we got to cheer for them."
Kyle Secakuku, senior video student, spent much of the conference
videotaping including Saufkie's interview of Yee and Krista Koyaquaptewa's
interview of Rick Burress.
"I got to see many schools and learned a lot about journalism,"
he said.
Secakuku said the best part was attending the sessions and seeing
what careers were available. He said the conference would have been
better if they had bigger rooms for the sessions. He said he had
fun learning about photography in one of his sessions. He is considering
taking video classes in college.
Amber Polacca, a sophomore print journalism student, said the
conference was great and the best part was interviewing students
from other schools and presenters. She said the conference would
have been improved if there was more time for the sessions. She
said it was awesome that Hopi High won awards.
Polacca, who would like to minor in photography, said she is
going to try to win a state award next year.
Deondre Onsae, a freshman print journalism student, said the
conference was fun and educational. He said the best part was going
to the sessions. He said the conference would have been improved
if there was more speakers. He said Yee's speech was inspirational.
"I felt proud of our students," he said.
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