Beginning in her sophomore year at Maine South High School, Nicole Scimeca picked up Emmy awards for her work as part of taking TV/broadcasting classes – winning eight in total, including three before she graduated last May.
“She truly has found her passion through her own storytelling,” Maine South teacher Mason Strom said in a Maine Township High School District 207 statement to Pioneer Press about Scimeca’s award wins. He had been her instructor all four years she attended the school.
For Scimeca, a bit of good came out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The teen went from performing live with people to going solo and doing everything herself. In November, that solo talent won her three National Student Production Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She picked up the student Emmys in the categories of writing, editing and for her talent reel in news.
Scimeca, who graduated from Maine South in May, has won a total of seven student Emmys and 20 regional awards.
“I’m so proud of Nicole and all of her success,” Strom stated.
Before the pandemic, Scimeca was a member of the Second City Youth Ensemble. She said she was enjoying learning how to write and perform as part of a group, but when the global public health emergency hit, she moved to working online. Suddenly, she had to write, produce and edit digital sketches.
“It was actually COVID that got me into digital media and filmmaking,” Scimeca said.
She had long been creative. But before the pandemic, she was live on stage.
“I started as a performer,” she said. “I’ve been in quite a few shows in the Chicagoland area and in New York, but I hadn’t really done a lot of film projects.”
But the pandemic lockdown put her behind the camera.
“From creating the digital sketches, I found a love of editing and filmmaking,” she said. “I got very involved in the film and broadcasting program.”
Two-thirds of her Emmy awards were for work done behind the camera – editing and writing. But often she is in front of the camera, too, and narrating. Film, she says, gives her a lot of freedom.
“I find that there’s a lot of overlap between directing and editing and being on camera and the whole creative process,” she said. “There’s a lot of interconnectedness between the three roles. I really enjoy the whole process.”
After graduating in May, she attended community college locally. In January, she headed to Los Angeles where she is enrolled in the journalism program at University of Southern California.
“From creating the digital sketches, I found a love of editing and filmmaking,” she said.
Over the years at Maine South, Mason provided structural guidance and feedback to Scimeca on her projects, including pre-production, production and post-production. He also offered her guidance throughout the script writing process, helped her through production issues and critiqued each cut of her projects until they were ready to present, he explained.
Strom believes Scimeca has found her niche and will enjoy career longevity.
“Her technical skills rival those of seasoned veterans and the drive she has in finding her “why“ are going to set her up for a long and successful future,” he said.
Jesse Wright is a freelancer. Pioneer Press staff contributed.