On Wednesday February 18, news channel Good Morning America stopped by Bernards High for pre-Oscar fun.
The Academy Awards were that weekend, with the Oscar Buzz Bus travelling to hometowns of different nominees to excite viewers of what was to come. Meryl Streep grew up in Bernardsville, NJ and attended Bernards High, a member of cheerleading and even winning Homecoming Queen her Senior year.
Students were informed of a surprise that was coming through a tweet by Principal, Mr. Neigel saying, “Surprise on for tomorrow! Fair warning – it will only be seniors from one lucky lunch period. Look your best. Never know what might happen!”
The students were “shocked”, like Junior Maria Britez, who went outside to the bus and high-fived GMA correspondent and former All My Children star Cameron Mathison, who was there to entertain and film for the morning show. Several takes were done of students running outside of the glass hallway to the Oscar bus, giving all students a chance to be on camera.
Junior Courtney Smith “enjoyed” the day and being on TV, having said , “Cameron Mathison was really outgoing and enthusiastic and it was fun being part of a new experience.” Once at the Oscar Bus, teachers and students alike participated in games like unscrambling mystery words such as “Supporting Actress”, and given clues about the nominees within that category.
Chorus teacher Mr. LaPine and Senior Erika Evleth competed against each other in an Ocsar-themed game, with Mr. LaPine winning a Go Pro mobile video camera.
Erika said, “Even though I lost 3-0 to Mr. LaPine, I still won a year of unlimited free popcorn which was pretty cool.”
The students of Bernards took well to the excitement like Junior Mikey Mandarino who said, “It was pretty cool to see all my friends on TV. It was also cool to meet celebrity.”
In addition, The Crimson photographer, Matt Carty said, “It was fun to be on TV and I also became friends with the cameraman that was there. He gave me great advice with my camera skills.”
Ms. Lan, a history teacher at BHS was extra lucky that day. She was selected to be on the live segment of the show. Eager to win a new TV, Ms. Lan easily unscrambled the mystery word on the board. The segment aired the following morning on Good Morning America. Families and friends of students watched it live, informing students who were present during filming of whether they made it on air or not. Junior Somers Laffey watched it after it aired, like many other students, and saw herself in a shot where she was running toward the “Oscar van”. Good Morning America continued to visit nominees’ hometowns up until the weekend of the show, where Meryl Streep was nominated for her 19th Oscar. Students and teachers alike enjoyed the day and were excited to watch themselves on TV.
