In September of 2014, we started an after-school club to start the Talon. One the first page of the first sign-in sheets, a few of the names below were signed. In February of 2015, the Talon formed as a class. On the first roster of that first class were a few of the names below. In August of 2015, our first Broadcast Journalism class was formed. On the first day of that new class, there were a few of the names below.
When we built a Sports Network, a radio station, streamed countless hours of content, wrote hundreds of articles and constantly improved over the last four years, some of these legendary names were on the team or leading the charge.
These are the legendary student media graduates of 2018 in no order.
Timber Creek Talon Class of 2018 Graduates
Junior Prieto
Junior has been a commentator, a writer, a radio analyst, a hard worker and a terrific friend to the students in Talon, TCTV, TCFM, Sports Network and on At The Buzzer. His knowledge of sports, dedication to the Houston teams, and general high quality work throughout the years he’s been on air and in print have made him a go-to guy when live sports coverage is needed and an inside source for how to improve our content. We’ll miss his smile, his willingness to do the work and the arguments with Corbin on TCFM.
Kaylee Wyman
Without Kaylee, it’s likely we would not have an editorial section on Talon. Since day one, she’s impressed us with her insight into challenges faced by students, teachers, the community and around the world. She balances thoughtful analysis with true passion for trying to solve problems, specifically by using the power of the press. She’s a talented writer, a brilliant thinker, and has a firm focus on the balance needed for Journalists to make changes in the world.
Chris Abrams
Chris’ kind heart and strong writing have made for some passionate pieces on Talon, fantastic features including the impressive Drugs pieces and awesome additions to our literary magazine – under another pen name. Chris’ dedication to drumline, hard working attitude and clear thinking make him more than just a great reporter, it makes him a great person.
Arielle Bautista
Arielle is one of the first names on the first sign in sheet for Talon. She has been writing since freshman year as a founding Talon, helping determine our direction, define our mission, and give our team a soul. She’s guided our Fine Arts section for the last two years and been important in multiple major stories and features over all these years. When the going gets tough, when we try something difficult, we can count on her advice and her help. She’s ready and willing to make things happen, write the hard stories, and be honest when things aren’t going well. Her smile, her spirit, and her advice will be missed.
Caroline Oliphint
Ninth grade Caroline was worried about upsetting the status quo, not confident to lead others, a talented writer and editor, but not really ready to take on the hard stuff. What a difference four years of taking on greater and greater challenges, developing leadership skills and interpersonal relationships, and being a skilled manager and arguably the most trusted Editor in Chief so far. To be honest, it’s hard taking someone so short so seriously, but she makes it work. From being the first student to interview the newest Keller ISD Superintendent, to helping run Talon in the smoothest fashion, she’s been key to making this year work, and last year, and the year before. We’ll miss her mighty mini-ness in person and in print.
Madison Butler
Madison Butler is the original original. The first News editor. The first Talon in a printed magazine. The leader in all-time Talon articles. A founder of Talon, Broadcast, Radio, Sports Network, and all our other crazy projects. She’s been the cornerstone of all our student media this year, especially. She’s so important that we had to make a special editor position because no single person will ever be able to fill her shoes. Years ago, she asked me how she’d be able to get people to listen to her as a newly elected editor – now, all student media respects and admires her leadership and she was voted by the entire Career and Technology Education department at Timber Creek to win their Senior Award. She is a great writer, editor, photographer, designer, leader, manager, student, person and “news daughter.” There are not words for how much she’ll be missed.
The Creek Yearbook Class of 2018
Marisa Harris, Bailey Brunelle, Madison Butler, Alexa Evans
My sweet seniors,
Just yesterday, you were quiet little sophomores who were a little overwhelmed with the whole yearbook process and loud upperclassmen. But each of you has become invaluable in their own way.
Marisa knows everyone and can get anything we need so fast. Bailey is couch-mover, character judge, and index guide extraordinaire. Madison is the organized story-teller. And Alexa is the creative problem solver and designer diva.
Someday you will understand what you’ve each meant to me. You’ve always got a place in my heart.
So much love,
Mrs. Beers
Broadcast Journalism Seniors (TCTV, TCFM, and Timber Creek Sports Network)
Cameron Britton
Cameron just recently got back to Keller ISD, but immediately reconnected with TCTV friends and brought his knowledge from out of state Broadcast Journalism programs to help us know how we stack up to exterior competition.
Anthony Rubio
Anthony’s strong talent as a live sports commentator has been heard on nearly a dozen sports broadcasts over these last two years. He’s been essential behind the camera, too, putting together great music videos, PSAs, rugby ads and a truly heartfelt Senior Sendoff video. We’ll miss his willingness to volunteer for any job and his fantastic voice in the broadcast booth.
Alicia Ross
Looking at Alicia’s video work from the end of this year versus where she started and you’d think she’d been through six years of work to hone her skills in framing, filming, editing and interviewing – but she did it in less than two. She’s been a force behind fantastic pieces with track and cross country, a key member of the Falcon Challenge, a relied-upon anchor for news, plus she’s a fantastic vocalist. Alicia has made TCTV up their game in news and sports highlights, plus captured the spirit of Timber Creek through her creative content.
Adam Nguyen
Adam’s creativity and drive is unparalleled. Joining TCTV this year, Adam created the Falcon Commander, impressive songs, detailed graphics and intros, plus filmed and edited the impressive theatre segments for Music Man, Tempest and Outsiders. Adam toils away, perfecting every edit, making each sound, graphic, font, and display have a purpose in his specific vision of a piece. If he doesn’t know how to immediately get the desired look or sound, he spends the effort and time to research and develop the skills to make it happen. We’ll miss his spirit and attitude, his dedication, and “OF COURSE” his costumes.
Devin Miles
Devin Miles joined TCTV this year and quickly became one of our go to people when something needed to get done not only quickly, but also at a high quality. Devin’s been creative and proactive to figuring out what he wants to learn and how to further his career. He is not afraid to ask questions of teachers, special guests, other students and local businesses to find out what needs to be known. Through KCAL, Devin’s been able to find some internships and new opportunities. Through his friendships here at TCTV, he’s been able to come up with some game plans for what he’s going to do — not only in the first couple of years of college, but probably what he’ll do in a career afterwards. We look forward to seeing all the great video work that Devin puts together in the future.
Rylee Cristan
Rylee has been a joy to have in class. She’s been dedicated to improving her skills as a photographer, as a videographer, as an editor, and as an anchor for our newscast. And through it all, we can count on her brilliant smile not only brightening our day, but also improving our product. Riley has been a fantastic leader for various programs and projects. Whenever she’s on camera, the screen lights up with her happiness, her creativity in music, videos and other projects has been fantastic. And I really can’t even find a whole bunch of words for why we will miss having her around.
Tim Carrier
In the two years that Tim has been with TCTV he’s been Accro-Tim, he’s been a ghost, he’s been the leader of a Scooby gang, he’s created Choir Cookie Noirs, he’s won awards and he’s been a genuine joy to have around. Tim’s creativity and drive to figure out how to make things look the way that he wants them to look is fantastic. Each project that Tim is involved in is better than the last which is exactly what we want to see in a student. Tim’s next goal is to do something awesome. I don’t know what that will be. But it won’t be that hard for him because already he’s built the skills necessary to be extremely successful.
Rowan Small
Last year Rowan didn’t do very much. But he’s soaked it all in like a sponge learning little bit by little bit how to make sure everything worked well. And, this year, his senior year, he created the second radio program at Timber Creek, The Nosebleeds, and consistently put together a fun and compelling product as a host and a producer of the show. He would put together ideas for what to talk about, then go completely off the rails as the conversation continued. But that movement and skill made sure that the conversation never ended always created a bunch of laughter and fun. That humor is a big reason why will miss Rowan.
Eric Albo
This year Eric Albo took over the hosting duties for At The Buzzer and made himself essential in getting that weekly program out to our listeners. His camaraderie and friendship with the people in the radio room have made him a go to person for when things need to get done in audio. He’s also been a force on live sports commentary, calling volleyball games for us for two seasons. Thank you for your great thoughts and challenging questions over these years.
Meredith Stuart
Meredith has done it all. She’s been rigged up to shoot basketball games live from the sidelines. She’s filmed highlights for all sorts of events. She’s edited footage from years prior into something that can be actually viewed. She’s produced. She’s directed. She’s anchored. She’s edited. She’s been a friend to all and a helpful source to everyone at TCTV. Throughout our last years together, Meredith has found a niche for video production, editing, and really being a leadership force behind the scenes. Whenever Meredith needs a project done, she’s able to call on friends to help her complete her goals.
Hannah Krogsgaard
Hannah Krogsgaard has been a student for four years in the media program starting in Journalism and now leading TCFM in her senior year. She’s a dedicated, focused worker who’s learned all the different portions of media including how to film and edit plus developed the skills to run a radio station. Hannah has been fantastic to have around due to her great smile, creative spirit, talented artistic skills and a very kind hear.
David Valmore
David is another one of our four-year veterans who’s been around since day one in Broadcast Journalism and helped us build Sports Network and TCFM into the programs that we wanted them to be. We were very excited to start broadcasting basketball because, David would be able to help us out with commentating live, however, before our first ever basketball stream on the Timber Creek Sports Network, David was called up to be on the varsity squad. Through every varsity boys stream, every time that we would watch the Falcons play basketball, we would be cheering on David while he was on the court playing. We enjoyed having him give feedback on how we can better our broadcasts for boys and girls basketball and for his contributions to At The Buzzer and other sports programming.
Paul Talamantes
Meeting Paul in his freshman year, I wouldn’t have expected that he would have become so important to TCTV and TCFM’s daily functions. For the last two years, Paul has worked hard with At The Buzzer and Two Minute Drill to make sure that their content goes out on a weekly basis, first as a host now as the producing editor. He’s always there to help assist with technology problems, editing problems, or just being a good friend with a helpful smile. Paul’s been my student aide this year as well and has helped put up with Journalism students asking him for a mouse and keyboard, or to help them out whenever I’m absent, and it’s that trust that I have in Paul and the belief that he will be successful throughout the rest of his career. Paul’s a talented percussionist, a great music writer and an amazing guy to be around.
Corbin Yanez
When Corbin was in my ninth-grade journalism class, he was unsure. He needed help he needed to find some direction. And over the course of these last four years, he’s matured and grown into a great sports analyst who’s had now over two years’ worth of broadcasting experience both. Corbin it’s been a cornerstone of Two Minute Drill and At The Buzzer since we first worked on pitching that show over two years ago and week after week, episode after episode, Corbin is there with great opinions, great arguments and just a great voice. Thank you, Corbin, for all your dedication to making sure that our sports program started strong and improved by leaps and bounds these past four years.
Candace Thomas
I’ve known Candace for four years, although kind of in a weird leapfrog way. She was in our Journalism class in ninth grade and then I didn’t see her again until we worked on the big fashion project together her junior year in fashion design. She created some amazing looks and did fantastic interviews with us at TCTV to document how the student-created fashion show went. After that, the broadcasting bug bit her and she joined TC TV to do all sorts of things. Dabbling in filming highlights, filming skits and promotions, and getting finally on camera to do some interviews and anchor work — all the while being a supportive person who had fantastic ideas and an intelligent outlook on the world. We’re looking forward to see her be successful in business, law or whatever career she takes. She is smart, she is capable and she will be someone who can change the world.
