On April 3, seven Mountain Lion Television (MLTV) students traveled to Harrisburg, Pa to attend the Keystone Media Awards (PNA) luncheon and awards ceremony.
Junior Aiden Aiken is part of the broadcasting team who attended the award ceremony. Aiken and the rest of the sports coverage team won first place in the Best Sports Coverage category.
“The awards for sports broadcasting hit home and were meaningful to me because I felt as though myself, along with a few other of my classmates, have worked hard on this category of film,” Aiken said.

(Madison Aboud)
This year, MLTV had an adviser change after their previous adviser Doug Sipes retired last school year. This has brought some new additions and changes to the team.
“Our past adviser had been great and was the person who ultimately got me started in the program, so I have to give him major credit, but with this year Mr. Baker taking over has taken the program under his wing very smoothly,” Aiken said. “We are truly starting to be recognized for all of the hard work we put in as a class.”
“I think that Mr. Baker has made it his focus to make the broadcasting team more of a serious department this year by giving us these opportunities to create more professional edits that lead us to receiving these awards,” senior Dominick Zlupko said.
Zlupko is also a part of the MLTV staff and attended the PNA awards. Zlupko, along with the rest of the MLTV staff, won first place in the Best Newscast category.
When the remodeled high school opened in 2020, a new studio for broadcasting students was created to further MLTV production.
“With the addition of the new B building back in 2020, we were known to have one of the top broadcasting suites in the country, and this was a true blessing for those of us within the program,” Aiken said. “With our new studio it allows us to take our work to the next level, compared to other schools who may not have it as fortunate as us.”
Both Aiken and Zlupko believe that joining the broadcasting team has made an impact on their high school careers as a whole.
“Having this program in my high school experience has truly changed my life in many ways,” Aiken said. “This has always been something I have been passionate about, and getting the opportunity to take this class on a daily basis has persuaded me into possibly majoring in this field for further education.”
“It [broadcasting] truly has helped me find passions and what I want to do with my life outside of high school and into college,” Zlupko said.
Senior Ava Steinbugl believes MLTV is successful, and the future of the broadcast will be as well.
“[We] want to promote school spirit and inclusion of everyone, our close friendships and our drive of being recognized for our successes,” Steinbugl said. “The younger broadcasting students have taken the class more seriously compared to when we were in the early broadcasting classes. Some of the edits I have seen them make are even more advanced than things we have made in the Live Media class. Mr. Baker has exposed them to more equipment than we were given that early, and, if they can continue to grow their knowledge and work hard, MLTV has potential to be even better than it is now.”
In all, MLTV brought home four awards:
First Place:
Best Newscast: full staff
Best Sports Coverage: Sydney Wilber, Aiden Aiken, Adilee Scott and Parker Huey-Kish.
Second Place:
Best Public Service: Korbyn Clifford, Dominick Zlupko, Ava Steinbugl, Luke Mitchell, Cameron Sicola and Lauryn Ryan.
Honorable Mention:
Best Feature: Kihlee Noel, Jaxson Pellegrine and Jordan Auker