Senior Alexej Vargas, one of two high school students invited to the event, was awarded a Mid American Emmy.

“I’ve known about the award for a while,” Vargas said. “It’s like one of the biggest awards, besides the National Emmys , but this is only in mid America.”

Despite Vargas’ prior knowledge of the award, he didn’t expect to be partaking in the event.

“I heard about it, but then Miss Hamilton told me last year that we had one week to submit and I was like ‘okay, that’s kind of last minute’,” Vargas said.

According to Vargas, he took the news in stride and quickly created materials to submit for the award.

“I created a demo reel in one day, because I only had one day free that week,” Vargas said.

After submitting the video, Vargas waited and began moving on to other projects. Vargas stated that these other projects took his mind off of the award, and after a while, it had left his mind completely.

“I forgot about it until I got an email inviting me to the red carpet event,” Vargas said. “So a lot of them were there, but there was a separate little part for younger people in high school and college.” 

According to Vargas, the red carpet event was attended mostly by adults and news stations like 4029, along with many college students.

“There were only two high school students,” Vargas said. “It was me and someone from Fayetteville highschool.”

Vargas explained that this event was only available to students from states in Mid America, including Missouri, Illinois, and of course, Arkansas. Students from all over these states were competing for this award and putting their best foot forward to prove that they have what it takes in the film world. According to Vargas, the red carpet event isn’t the only upside of receiving the award.

“It puts my name out there, and it looks really good on any scholarship and on my resume,” Vargas said. “The award also looks really cool, it’s made of glass.”

Receiving the award and attending the event wasn’t the end for Vargas. He explained that he was hoping to advance to the next stage; Nationals.

“I got an email before I actually got the award itself, so I already knew going into it that I hadn’t won nationals,” Vargas said.

Despite not advancing this year, Vargas hopes to continue his career in the film and broadcast industry throughout his senior year and even beyond that.

“I really like this stuff,” Vargas said, “and my goal is to eventually come back with a broadcast journalism degree.”

Vargas is still set on trying to advance in this year’s competition and hopes this is nowhere near the end of his success.

“This year I’m trying to go for nationals,” Vargas said. “Even if I don’t make it to Nationals, I’ll try to win Mid America again.”