By Brendan Dugan
“We had faith in ourselves that we would place well,” said Natalie Russell, one of the four recent Western Boone graduates who traveled to Kansas City, Mo., to compete in the Skills USA National Leadership competition for their radio/TV class. As it turned out, their skills won them second place in the national competition, silver medals and $8,000 in software for the radio/TV program at Western Boone High School.
Sarah Rowland, Natalie Russell, Dylan Broshar, and Evan Richardson all contributed to their team’s success, almost taking first place, with a slight half a percentage point difference between their score and the leading team’s.
Students from across the nation were given several criteria to create six broadcasts for-like international, national, sports and local stories-each of which had to be precisely three minutes and well-planned. The Webo team covered stories such as the stimulus bill, Tiger Woods’ recovery and the local abortion clinic.
“We had a one-up on them,” Russell said, adding thats the competition as an challenging activity for the group, but they were well-prepared. The former Western Boone students are all experienced competitors who produced announcements daily as a part of their course led by Matt Foxworthy.
The new software could be incentive for incoming students, and it will help the Radio/TV department keep up-to-date with ever-advancing technology.
