The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is the organization that gives out Emmy awards each year. While most people are familiar with the Emmys for entertainment television, NATAS also offers regional competitions for broadcast journalism—just ask the Sun’s wine and food columnist Wendy Thies Sell.
The Northern California Chapter of NATAS held its Emmy night event in San Francisco on June 14, and among the winning recipients were two broadcast journalists with local ties. Both Randy Forsman and
Ryan Oliveira are alumni of Ernest Righetti High School—Forsman graduated in 1998 and Oliveira in 2000—but, more importantly, they were both students in Robert Garcia’s film and video production class.
“They were both with me for four years,” Garcia said. “They were both at the same award show when this happened and didn’t know each other until Randy went up and accepted his award and thanked me in his acceptance speech.”
Both Forsman and Oliveira were competing against broadcasters from as far north as the California-Oregon boarder. Forsman won his Emmy for directing several stories at KCRA 3 in Sacramento.
“A newscast can get repetitive as you’re doing the same things day in and day out,” Forsman wrote in an email interview. “The examples I included in my composite were times where I would experiment with new camera shots and effects that really added to the visual impact of the newscast.”
Oliveira won for his live news photography work. He credits his success on the stories to the fact that he would blend several audio and visual techniques to create a more interesting story.
“A lot of it has to do with shooting and editing; you have to know how to do both of them,” Oliveira said. “I also shoot a lot for natural sound, that’s one thing I try to put in my stories. It gives viewers the feeling that they are actually watching a story.”
Forsman and Oliveira first learned about shooting techniques and editing software in Garcia’s class, which is a Regional Occupational Program (ROP) designed to provide students with skills usable immediately in the workforce.
“Ryan practically lived in my room,” Garcia said. “He loved shooting and he love editing, and that was back when we only had a few computers.”
Both Righetti alumni entered the workforce directly out of high school.
“During my senior year, Mr. Garcia managed to get me an internship at KCOY in Santa Maria,” Forsman wrote. “Working in news was very similar to what we were doing in class, just on a grander scale.”
In addition to the advanced film class, which focuses on traditional cinema-style production, Garcia also teaches a broadcasting class. The Show airs live across Righetti’s campus and features student anchors and pre-recorded stories that play during the show. The studio includes a control room, two cameras, Teleprompters, microphones, and lighting—everything you need for news broadcasting.
“I always tell people I got lucky that I was in a video class that was basically a college-level video class in high school,” Oliveira said. “I remember, because I did go to Hancock for two years, [and] I went directly into the advanced class because I had taken Garcia’s class.”
These aren’t the first awards, let alone the first Emmys, Forsman or Oliveira have won. Both are multiple-Emmy-award winners and both have won several other distinctions from various media organizations. Both are examples of high school graduates who have achieved a high level of skill and praise in their field without a college-level education.
“I had to make the decision to either pay money to go to school, or get paid to learn more than I ever could in school,” Forsman wrote. “I decided to go for it and got the job.”
Garcia’s students have gone on to win many accolades, including Emmys and Academy Awards. Some continued on to college, while others, like Forsman and Oliveira, entered the workforce from high school. Either way, the quality of education hasn’t diminished, but rather has been bolstered by some extra funding Garcia received to keep the equipment in his class up to date.
“I think the elective courses are very important because I think there are kids who go to school for the elective courses,” Garcia said. “These guys liked school and they were good at it, and it shows that the electives and the arts are very important for education.”
No matter where his students end up—full disclosure: This writer attended four years of Garcia’s classes—they will learn skills that transcend career paths, such as collaborative teamwork or working on deadlines. Additionally, Garcia’s students are often introduced to activities that will give them creative fulfillment for a lifetime.
“What Garcia’s class really helped me do was realize that I love working on videos,” Oliveira said. “It also … showed me a way I could be creative, and I was able to make a career out of it.”
Arts Editor Joe Payne is waiting for his Emmy nomination. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 10-17, 2014.