East Syracuse Minoa Central High School’s Communication and Media Studies students, under the direction of Teacher Michael Ferris, have been awarded the L. Richard Novelli Highway Safety Education Award presented by the NYS Association of Traffic Safety Boards. The award is presented to those who exemplify the promotion of traffic safety through community education and model programs.
Students, and in particular those in the multi-camera studio production class, wrote, directed and produced several 30-minute episodes of a program called “The Flare,” as well as one game show program. The episodes have general traffic safety themes, some focusing on teen driving. They aired on public access television.
“We want to reward the students for the work they’ve done. Everything they do is helping to save teen driver’s lives and this is what the whole program is all about,” said Frederick Zimmerman, director of operations for ‘Whose Highway is it Anyway?’ “The students that are the creative and the energy and the effort to help save teen driver’s lives.”
The Novelli Award was instituted to honor the memory of L. Richard “Dick” Novelli, former STOP-DWI coordinator and Niagara County traffic safety director. The award is given to programs that further STOP-DWI and/or traffic safety principles through community education. Primary considerations are the program’s impact on the community, the originality of the design, the incorporation of either STOP-DWI or traffic safety principles and adaptability of the program to other communities.
“I’m very happy that we received this because we put a lot of work into it,” said student Alize Garlock, who was executive producer for two episodes of “The Flare” last year.
“I’m excited watching the students mature as they work through this project. They see how valuable traffic safety knowledge is and the impact they are making,” said Ferris.
The eventual goal is to have a national “Studio A Highway Safety Channel.” The ESM student production teams over the past two years have also received some help from Fayetteville Manlius, Oswego High School and, through the connections of an ESM alum, Nashua High School in New Hampshire.
