Featured Story: Media State Champions
Posted on 12/30/2023
Six students from LSHS Media Productions 2 represented their school at the State Leadership and Skills Conference in Grand Rapids. Not only did they successfully defend their State Title, but they also swept the competition by earning the top three spots:
🥇 1st place State Champions: Abby Smith* and Jimmy Sheen - https://youtu.be/eDOQSakeBRE
🥈 2nd place: Conner Carney and Ella Pascoe - https://youtu.be/_lXIG4y4aio
🥉 3rd place: Megan Sweeney and Lukas Storbeck - https://youtu.be/rqGEaxkoEio
Media teacher Mrs. Blaszkowski explained, "This year, I brought three teams of two to compete in the Digital Cinema Production category. Their challenge? Create a 1-minute video based on a prompt, using the Grand Rapids Public Museum as their location. The process is intense: students attend a walkthrough Friday afternoon, plan their shoot, and attend the opening session. On Saturday, competition day kicks off at 8:00 AM with setup, a technical test, resume submission, clothing and music license checks. Teams get two hours to film on location, two hours to edit, and 15 minutes to export their final video. It’s a long, challenging day—but incredibly rewarding."
*Abby Smith is also the 2025-2026 SkillsUSA Michigan State Vice President! Abby began the candidate process in November, which included extensive paperwork, an interview, test, letters of recommendation, transcripts, and more. She was officially approved to run, and throughout the weekend juggled both her competition responsibilities and her officer candidacy.
To top it all off, Abby and Jimmy have qualified for SkillsUSA Nationals in Atlanta, June 23–27!
Blaszkowski wrote, "It truly was the best possible outcome for our Lake Shore team. If you see any of our competitors or Abby, please congratulate them. This was a massive accomplishment and took months of preparation and hard work. We are so proud!"
Bonus: Congratulations to LSHS's Brooke Atkinson who recently competed in the SkillsUSA Early Childhood competition representing Pankow; She earned a Gold Medal and State Championship!