AV ALL STARS recipients
THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES – UPPER MIDWEST FOUNDATION recognizes students who are an incredible technical asset to the overall success of a school or non-profit educational student video media program.
Educators could nominate a junior or senior from their school or organization’s media program. These are the behind-the-scenes, technical, dependable and engaged students in the video program or club. The go-to students who help keep the school’s content on the air.
AV ALL STARS
2025 COLLEGE RecipientS
Ryder L. Bates
University of Northern Iowa
Ryder L. Bates likes to be involved in all sort of media projects across UNI departments helping to bring publicity to the Department of Communication and Media and the Digital Media major. His accomplishments are particularly impressive given most of them occurred in a single year, many overlapping at the same time!
Ryder plays an active role, in Hilltop Media, the student run media production company. First as an executive and now as the President, running the organization, planning activities, and participating in media productions ranging from short films to client projects.
Ryder is a remarkable leader. One of his many talents is his humility and willingness to work and respect people of all levels of skills. He creates a positive atmosphere, is constructive in his suggestions, respectful and appreciative of feedback and other opinions, and always willing to assist others wherever needed.
Blake Petersen
Iowa State University
Blake Petersen is a stalwart performer on several fronts involving Iowa State University's school media program. Blake is among its top student producers for Cyclones.TV, the ISU Athletic Department's regional sports and streaming network. During the year, he works roughly 20 hours a week in camera operations, replay and video board graphics.
Blake is an exceptional studio and video camera operator, whose internship credits include working for two minor league baseball franchises - the Fond du Lac Dock Spiders of the Northwoods League and the Iowa Cubs, the AAA farm team of the Chicago Cubs
He is regarded by his supervisors as dependable, energetic and coachable, someone they can trust to provide pro-level work in high-leverage broadcasts for ESPN+ productions at Hilton Coliseum and Jack Trice Stadium. Blake also spent two years as a videographer and on-air talent for the award-winning student TV news magazine show "EverGreenlee News."
2025 high school Recipients
Lucas Krieg
BEC-TV (Bloomington Jefferson high school)
Lucas Krieg cut his TV teeth in Middle School. He’s be volunteering for SEVEN school years with BEC-TV. Now a Bloomington Jefferson senior Lucas Krieg has been a part of more 200 productions. All of these have been after school on his own time.
Lucas has been in productions at every high school, middle school, stadium and ice rink in Bloomington as well as teamed with BEC-TV at several pro-level venues in the Twin Cities.
Nearly all of these productions have been live-to-air with between 3 and 7 cameras, 4 channels of replay, full graphics, and more. Most productions require full setup and strike.
In his roles as student producer he’s been in charge of pre-production planning, the live production and the whole crew. After each production, he leads a “Post Mortem” with the crew to discuss what went right, what went wrong, and how to up their game for the next one.
Alex Schaefer
St. Cloud Tech High School
Alex Schaefer is a Junior at St. Cloud Tech High School. Alex has consistently gone above and beyond his role with both the Tech Morning Show and C201 Productions, taking these projects to new heights over the past three years. His technical expertise is unparalleled—he has mastered every aspect of the school’s studio operations.
Alex's deep understanding of how the entire studio networked system functions ensures that each production runs smoothly. Alex also self-taught himself to operate a drone, enabling the school to incorporate drone footage into this year’s productions, adding a fresh and professional dimension to the school's content.
His commitment to training and mentoring others has created a culture of collaboration and growth within the studio. Whether it's guiding newer students or stepping in to resolve technical challenges, Alex has earned the trust and admiration of both his peers and instructors. His unwavering dedication, technical expertise, and leadership make him an essential member of the production team