While most college students spent their summers working, taking summer classes or relaxing, students who worked on four films received Emmy Awards.
Four student-made films received Emmys in June in the Photographer — Non-News category, the Student Production category and the Lighting-Location category, Tim Pollard, associate professor of telecommunications, said.
Pollard said the Emmy wins show what the university is doing with emerging media.
"[The Emmy wins are] a validation of what we're doing as a department," he said. "Students are getting a strong experience throughout the semester that gets them more trained and thinking more as someone in this industry."
Communication information sciences graduate student Kimberly Lytle said she was nervous when accepting her group's win for their film "Increasing the Odds" in front of important people in the telecommunications industry.
"Being able to be in the presence of professionals and to be considered at their level as a student, I was in shock," Lytle said. "[After the winners were announced] I just went, ‘Oh my God,' and got up. I said my 30 second thank you speech and went off stage shaking."
Senior telecommunications major Seth Tanner said he re-watched his group's video "Ball State Sports Link: The Malik Perry Story," after finding out about their win in the Student Production category.
"I wasn't expecting to win because in my own eyes, being [the] director, you see more mistakes than the good things in a project," he said.
Tanner said the Emmy win will look good on his résumé, but it's the experience that counts.
"The skills I learned working on this project [are] important," he said. "Here's my sales pitch for Ball State: I've learned more things outside the classroom in immersive learning. I probably got three or four classes worth of experience on this film and with Sports Link."
Pollard said Ball State stands out from other universities in the country because of the college's emphasis on emerging media.
"We're heavily into immersive learning and creating material that's of a professional caliber," he said. "The students coming in as freshmen are expected from the beginning classes to be professional."
Pollard said that in order for students to get a stronger experience, they should work on projects outside of the classroom.
"Those videos are external proof of what [the students] are doing. It's not just a grade from a professional," he said. "You can't get everything from just doing class work. There are so many more opportunities to learn the craft."
Read More
Three Air Jam teams take home the win
October 12, 2012Nineteen teams shimmied, shook and flipped for a sold out John R. Emens Auditorium on Thursday night during the 25th annual Air Jam.
Bill Clinton Speaks at North Central High School
October 12, 2012Former President's Speech Could Have Effect on State Senate Race
