SAN FRANCISCO – Celebrating their work in front of and behind the camera, a grand total of 12 Academy of Art student-athletes were bestowed year-end honors at the 2021 School of Communications & Media Technologies Awards. Reflecting back, individuals honored offered memories of their favorite projects and classes as well as their experience as both artists and athletes.

Collin Carriger (Baseball) – Best Undergraduate On Camera
Highlighted for his work in the COM department's recurring Game Show class, Carriger's ease and sense of humor shined as one of the show's hosts. Describing the experience as both fun and eye-opening to the experience of being in front of the camera, Carriger also appreciated the feedback he received from COM Director Jan Yanehiro and COM Co-Director Steve Kotton who also instructed the class. A memorable year for the junior pitcher saw him not only become the program's new single-game record holder with 14 strikeouts versus Concordia on Apr. 30 (earning the program's second NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week honor to date), but also take home valuable lessons toward his future profession.
 
"Being a student-athlete makes me feel much more accomplished," Carriger said. "Coming from a long practice and having to rush to class makes me even happier at the end of the semester when I get my grades and seeing all my hard work pay off."

Dante Williams (Men's Basketball) – Best Undergraduate Focus Award
Working with Senior Woman Administrator, Women's Basketball Head Coach, and Instructor Krystle Evans, Williams' favorite class from the past year was COM 212 The History of African American Athletes in the Media. Williams appreciated the course's deeper dive into the history of Black athletes like Muhammad Ali, Wilma Rudolph, Maya Moore, and Colin Kaepernick and the spotlight on both outcomes and consequences through a variety of lenses. Competing in his senior year with Academy of Art, Williams led the team in field goal percentage (.527), bolstering that figure when he scored a season-high 27 points on 11-for-13 shooting from the field versus Humboldt State on Feb. 26.
 
"Being a student-athlete kept me motivated," Williams said. "I always knew that I couldn't hoop if my grades weren't right. But beyond that, I gained a lot of leadership, accountability, and responsibility. I'm always required to do my job, no matter what the job is, but the leadership kicks in when others need help with their job as well and I work with them to accomplish one goal. Being accountable is big for me in all aspects of life. I have to hold myself and others accountable or else nothing would never be achieved."

Gabriel De Leon Manotoc (Men's Golf) – Best Undergraduate Focus Award
Manotoc fondly looked back on two classes he took concurrently, COM 200 Multiplatform Content Creation and COM 210 Multiplatform Content Live. Tasked with producing a newscast from a variety of roles which alternated on a weekly basis, the Santa Rosa, Philippines native transitioned from serving as the show's anchor to its producer to an interviewer to a field reporter and so on. When completed, the course gave an appreciative Manotoc that immersive job experience, glimpsing how it would be in the post-graduation world. Closing out his five-year ART U career this spring, Manotoc contributed to the program's first Pacific West Conference Championship and first postseason team appearance in addition to earning PacWest All-PacWest Second Team and PacWest All-Tournament Team.

"My experience as a student-athlete definitely helped me with setting my priorities in life and taking feedback in a way that can make me better," Manotoc said. "Whether it be good or bad, I take it as motivation to be the best version of myself each and every day. Being a student-athlete has also made me much more disciplined and focused to finish my projects on time."

Zhane Chan (Men's Golf) – Best Undergraduate Editor Award
Attending classes from his hometown of Sungai Petani, Malaysia this past year, Chan remembered one of his favorite projects as editing a 40-minute game show. He embraced the new challenge and tested his complete repertoire of editing skills he had learned while at Academy of Art. From ensuring level audio to incorporating different camera angles and choosing the right video to display at the appropriate time, Chan made major progress with this project. Though Chan did not compete for the ART U men's golf team in the 2020-21 season, he still contributed to the team's success remotely and worked to repeat his academic success from his first season with the program which saw him named both Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar and Academic All-PacWest as well as earn a D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award.

"Being a student-athlete is like working two full-time jobs," Chan said. "It requires focus and a good time management skill. I've learned to always stay on top of my stuff, and not to get left behind. In terms of how that has influenced my work, I have to say that I enjoy creating stories involving the sport I play. For example, I've got to interview multiple golf touring professionals from Malaysia for my Podcast class, and last year I got to interview a Malaysian golf YouTuber for my final. Being a student-athlete opens me up to opportunities to talk to these great people, and it's been enjoyable creating stories that I'm passionate about."

Ryan Gamboa (Baseball) – Best Graduate On Camera
Starting his pursuit of a graduate degree in the School of Communications & Media Technologies this year, Gamboa's charismatic personality was at its finest in his roles with the "Studio 79" talent show which featured numerous student-athletes both in front and behind the scenes. Comparable to American Idol, America's Got Talent, and The Voice, the fall semester show was particularly pioneering in that it strategically navigated the COVID-19 pandemic by incorporating online platforms like Zoom, its website, and social media.

"We accomplished something that would not have crossed our mind in a million years," Gamboa said. "It put our education to the test by being great communicators, our skills as editors, and creating content for social media. It was great to see each individual in the class step up and play to their strengths. It was a collaborative effort all the way around. The beauty of it all, it was a success and could be done with our eyes closed now. Of course, I hope for an in-person production in the near future, but we went down a road as students and professionals to create something that goes down in history. 20 years from now we're going to look back on this experience and be grateful we learned something so unorthodox and made it our own."

Gamboa, who had previously won the Urban Knights Radio Award in 2020, enjoyed the best baseball season of his ART U career, hitting .295 with 10 extra-base hits and 14 runs batted all while helping guide the program to the PacWest Northern California Pod title and its first postseason appearance.

"Student-Athletes have one of the most demanding schedules at our institution," Gamboa said. "All academic programs are rigorous and require you to put the time in to be successful. It goes hand-in-hand with our sport. We put endless hours into our craft that it makes school a lot easier to navigate and manage our time. Our communication is there with our instructors and we produce high level work that sets us above the competition. The term 'student-athlete' says it all. Hard work, dedication, and excellence are what are asked of us on the field. Carrying that over in the classroom helps make our experience positive and worthwhile."

Alice Coisne (Women's Track & Field) – Best Graduate Focus Award
Beginning her Communications & Media Technologies graduate program this past fall, Coisne points to her web series for COM 603 Visual Storytelling Production as her favorite project. Creating a trio of episodes on the same theme, she chose to produce vlogs in three different neighborhoods of San Francisco (Haight-Ashbury, North Beach, and the Embarcadero). 

"Since I am a new French student at ART U, besides creating really cool videos, this project enabled me to discover beautiful parts of the city," Coisne said. "I really liked putting together those pieces that mixed fun and liveliness but also historical elements."

In her first season on the track at Academy of Art, Coisne competed in a variety of sprint events including the 400m, 100m and 400m hurdles, and the 4x400m relay. A three-time All-Region honoree, she closed out the month of April on both the PacWest podium and the program's top five all-time list in the 400mH.

"I've always been told that I had to choose between studies and sports. That I wouldn't be able to combine the two because it was 'too hard,'" Coisne said. "Since high school, I proved those people wrong. I would even say that my commitment to track enabled me to be a better student. As a student-athlete, you know you have more responsibilities. There's more pressure on you. You spend most of the time at practice, or pre-practice, and even post-practice. That gives you little time to be fully involved in your studies. This is exactly when you show that you understood what being a student-athlete means. You have to sharpen even more the skills like organization, time management, discipline, and rigorousness."

Check out Coisne's profile page in the 2021 Spring Show!

Camille Jouanno (Women's Track & Field) – Best Graduate Editor Award
Amid the challenges of filming projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jouanno ventured outside of her comfort zone to produce a seven-minute piece that featured a 76-year-old woman sharing about important periods of her life. Praised by COM Co-Director Steve Kotton for her storytelling ability, this project stood out for the Bordeaux, France native. Jouanno, who had previously won the Best Graduate On Camera Award in 2020, closed out her ART U career among the program's top five in the indoor and outdoor versions of both the long jump and triple jump.

"My experience as a student-athlete has been influencing my work in a positive way even if sometimes I feel overwhelmed," Jouanno said. "As an athlete, I face and overcome challenges every day on the track and it helped me overcome the challenges in my school projects as well. Being a competitive athlete also really pushes me to do my best in the academic side."

Check out Jouanno's profile page in the 2021 Spring Show!

Raquel Calvo Mendez (Women's Soccer) – Podcasting Award
The recipient of one of two awards presented by Instructor Matty Staudt, Calvo Mendez appropriately named COM 150 Introduction to Radio/Podcasting as one of her favorite classes. Within that course, in addition to bringing in other student-athletes for interviews, she fondly remembered compiling all her knowledge and progress into her final project in which she talked about the career of musical artist Justin Bieber. Starting all but one match for Academy of Art women's soccer this past season, Calvo Mendez contributed to her third shutout with the defensive line versus Holy Names on Feb. 11.
 
"I have to say that my experience as a student-athlete influenced even my choice in taking this class," Calvo Mendez said. "English is not my first language nor is COM my career, so I chose it as a challenge looking to expand my skills and with the intention to continuously learn and improve. Lastly, my inherent student-athlete abilities such as discipline and time management were undoubtedly of vital importance to obtain the best possible results in this class."

Yun "Nicole" Shiau (Women's Tennis) – Podcasting Award
Excelling in the world of podcasting, Shiau enjoyed the creation of her show "Tales From The East." The Taichung, Taiwan native embraced her opportunity to explore the podcast industry by creating original content while practicing gathering sources, writing scripts, recording, and editing. Shiau's debut season with the Urban Knights saw her earn All-PacWest Second Team as a singles competitor and All-PacWest Third Team with her doubles partner Sofia Ragona, finishing with a total of 12 wins across 12 matches.
 
"I believe that the most significant influence on me was time management," Shiau said. "As a student-athlete, I have less free time to utilize, so I always remind myself to stay organized and have a clear studying schedule. I also believe that the discipline on the tennis court helps me to stay focus on creating a long project like this one."

Chanel Stuart (Women's Basketball) – Achievement Award
Exploring classes in her third year within the School of Communications & Media Technologies, Stuart's most memorable class project came out of COM 630 Motion Graphics for Digital Media taught by Instructor Richard Hart. En route to her final, the Elk Grove native developed both a love of 3-D graphics and other elements she plans to pursue with her future career. Once the PacWest Northern California Player of the Week, Stuart led the team in 3-pointers made, memorably knocking down six triples all in the fourth quarter of a Mar. 6 win over Dominican.

"My experience as a student-athlete influenced my work by teaching me time management," Stuart said. "It's pretty hard managing to be an athlete and having to maintain good grades for five classes. It also taught me how to work in 'crunch time,' for example the timed exams for Liberal Arts classes."

Vincent Lontz (Baseball) – Achievement Award
Covering the Black Lives Matter movement for a news package within COM 210 Multiplatform Content Live, Lontz felt his first story of the school year was by far his best. Learning from Instructor Dianne Fukami about how to draw emotion from one's audience, the Concord native mixed together multiple perspectives of his fellow ART U student-athletes, shots from marches in Sacramento, and his own home footage from the East Bay to produce a strong and effective piece. In a 2021 season that culminated in the team earning the PacWest NorCal Pod title, Lontz started every contest, hit .273 including eight doubles, and drove in 19 of his teammates.

"Trusting the process is something you have to take from the field and apply to your work," Lontz said. "Oftentimes you have a week to complete an assignment. Similar to baseball, you often have a week of practice before a game. The first day of the week isn't always going to be pretty. You aren't going to have all of the footage you need for a video on the first day, just like you aren't going have your swing completely dialed in on the first day either. As the week progresses, you get more interviews, more b-roll, and more perspective of the angle you want to take on the story. Same thing with baseball; you get more swings in throughout the week and come game time you're ready to attack on every pitch. If you expect to have the perfect story or perfect swing, on the first day of a work week, you aren't going to be pleased with the result. Always trust the process."

In addition, a quartet of ART U baseball student-athletes was rounded out by junior pitcher Cannon Secrist who earned a Best Undergraduate Focus Award as well.