ATLANTA, Ga. - The Sultan High School Student Broadcast Team, also known as TurkPride.tv, was recently honored for a second-straight year as a “Select School” by the NFHS Network for their efforts in student broadcasting during the 2014-15 school year.

Sultan High School broadcasted an unprecedented 101 Turk sporting events, which was 20 more events than the student volunteer group produced in 2013-14. TurkPride.tv completed its third year using the NFHS Network Student Broadcast Program platform and its fourth year covering high school events.  The NFHS Network, the nation’s leading high school sports media company, recognized 110 schools in their broadcasting program by issuing “Select School” or “Elite School” accolades.  To earn a “Select” grade, a broadcasting team must demonstrate excellent broadcasting skills.  The NFHS Network’s Select High Schools produced an average of 56 events and covered an average of five sports. 

“Sultan High School is a pioneer in student broadcasting in the State of Washington,” WIAA Executive Director Mike Colbrese said.  “The ability for students to gain hands-on broadcasting experience will undoubtedly lead to greater success not to mention the fact these games are available globally.”

In addition to garnering the “Select School” honor, the broadcast team was also one of three finalists for Highlight of the Year at the first annual NFHS Network Broadcast Academy Awards.  The highlight was from a January 9 girls basketball game which featured freshman Lily Morgan connecting on a deep three-pointer as time expired to force overtime against the Lakewood Cougars.  

The TechClub Advisor of TurkPride.tv is Dave Moon, who is also the Technology Director for the Sultan School District.  Moon has worked worked with the TechClub since its inception and has facilitated the education process for student growth in the field of broadcast production.  The club involvement ranges from 15-20 students per year.

“The president, the vice-president and I, four years ago, talked about what we wanted to learn and accomplish in the upcoming school year,” Moon said.  “That year’s president suggested streaming sporting events at the school and everyone loved the idea and got on board.”

Four years later, the broadcast team was honored for the first time.  2014-15 TechClub President Ruby Nambo, who will be enrolling at Central Washington University in the Fall, took the club to new heights as the team reached triple digits and broadcasted every home game for Sultan with the exception of one.

“Receiving the award was a cherry on top,” Nambo said.  “We never planned on receiving an award, we just had a focus of streaming as many home events.”

The new TechClub President is senior Crystal Nambo who will take the reins of TurkPride.tv and expand on the foundation that has been built the last four years.

“We are just trying to broadcast every single event that is happening at the high school,” Nambo said.  “This is for family members and anyone who wants to support the Turks from a distance.  We want to take the next step in quality broadcasting and professionalism.  The crew we work with has a ton of fun working on the set.  We get something done and we enjoy it.”

Community members have also volunteered their time with the club.  The Voice of TurkPride.tv, Byron Atkinson, began broadcasting as the wrestling play-by-play broadcaster to end the on-air silence.  Due to high demands for student participation on the production side, TurkPride.tv had no students left over for the on-air talent.  After one year of just wrestling broadcasts, Atkinson officially became the voice of TurkPride.tv.

“It became the place to befor these kids,” Atkinson stated.  “It became more of a community event for Sultan.  The athletes and the parents started watching and commenting.  Every week we kept building whether it was a post game or pre game interview or guest broadcasts and it just took off.” 

The Network recently added 470 new schools to the School Broadcast Program and have at least one school from 49 states.  Last year, the Network presented over 18,000 live video events including many WIAA State Championship games.  

WIAA schools that join the School Broadcast Program are empowered to produce professional grade events streamed live and available on demand on their school-branded channel on the NFHS Network site. If you would like to learn more about joining the NFHS Network School Broadcast Program, please contact Sean Hennessy at (619) 408-2853.