With this in mind, Spectrum launched a new student competition: Spectrum’s NextGen Storm Team Creative Challenge. Designed for students in the School District of Manatee County, competitors were asked to create a public service announcement, or PSA, that was focused on helping families stay connected before, during, and after a hurricane.

In late August, PCHS students Kendall Bacon (So.) and Emily Schappert (So.) were announced as the winners of the inaugural competition.

Both Bacon and Schappert are members of the Bulls Broadcasting Club, giving them valuable resources to create a quality PSA that would meet the demanding rubric given by Spectrum’s creative team. Their winning PSA, titled “I’ve Got Us Covered,” was then further developed by Spectrum’s creative team. 

“We showed up at the film site and watched professionals bring our idea to life through storyboards and detailed camera angles,” Bacon explained. “We got to see how they created a vision based on others’ work, and filmed videos detailing our experience.”

The professionally developed video is being used for Spectrum’s hurricane preparedness campaign, airing on televisions across Manatee County and the state of Florida.

“Although the video isn’t out yet, I’m super excited to see the video in the community and around other states who experience varied intense storms,” Bacon said. “It’s really inspiring, and it makes all the hard work we put in really worth it.”

“It’s incredible to know our work is helping people in the community, especially people who are new to hurricane-prone areas and don’t know what to do,” Schappert added.