Southeastern student wins New Orleans Press Club scholarship
Thursday, May 26, 2022
by: Tonya Lowentritt 
SOUTHEASTERN STUDENT HONORED - Taylor Nettle, a Southeastern Louisiana University sophomore from Lacombe who works at the Southeastern Channel, was recently awarded a prestigious $2,500 student journalism scholarship from the Press Club of New Orleans. Nettle, who majors in communication and media studies with a concentration in television and multimedia journalism, is an anchor, reporter, producer, and director for the national award-winning student newscast “Northshore News,” as well as the live broadcast director of the student sportscast “The Big Game,” and live Southeastern sports game productions streaming live on ESPN+.
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University student Taylor Nettle of Lacombe,
who works at the Southeastern Channel, has been honored by the Press Club of New Orleans
with its prestigious journalism scholarship worth $2,500.
The scholarship was presented at the Press Club’s 63rd Annual Excellence in Journalism
Awards Gala.
The Press Club of New Orleans is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving
the professional skills of people in the journalism industry via education, scholarships,
networking and professional development. The annual Excellence in Journalism Awards
Gala encourages and rewards excellence in print, online and broadcast media, as well
as public relations.
Each year the Press Club offers three $2,500 scholarships to qualified journalism
and public relations students at the college level. The scholarships are open to students
who graduated from high school in the Metro New Orleans area and are attending college.
Nettle, a Southeastern sophomore and graduate of Northshore High School in Slidell,
is majoring in communication and media studies with a concentration in television
and multimedia journalism.
“Winning the Press Club scholarship is a huge honor, especially with the Press
Club having such a prestigious presence in New Orleans,” Nettle said. “The Press Club
not only recognizes current outstanding broadcasters and journalists throughout Louisiana,
but also looks to younger generations to see the young talent in the broadcasting
industry. The scholarship is so meaningful to me since out of all the young journalists
who applied for this scholarship, there was something they saw in me I never really
saw in myself.”
“We couldn’t be more proud or excited for Taylor in winning this scholarship,
and she is an extremely worthy recipient,” said Southeastern Channel General Manager
Rick Settoon. “Although she’s only a sophomore, she’s already proven to be quite a
student leader at the Southeastern Channel. Taylor not only has outstanding journalism,
writing, reporting, and on-camera skills, but she also excels equally well behind
the camera as a producer, director, videographer, video editor, and animator on a
wide variety of projects and types of production. She literally can do it all in both
studio and field production and will have a terrific career in the broadcasting industry.”
Nettle was recognized for the award at the Press Club’s virtual ceremony (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKRBkiXbXuc) hosted by New Orleans television celebrities Fletcher Mackel, sports anchor/reporter
for WDSU-TV Ch. 6, and Doug Mouton, sports director/anchor for WWL-TV Ch. 4. Nettle’s
presentation begins at 1/29:50 of the link.
“I knew beforehand I would be receiving the scholarship, but I did not realize
what the hosts would say about me,” Nettle said. “I was expecting my name to be called
with the scholarship, but instead I heard these two celebrity hosts uplift me as a
young journalist beginning my career. To hear that I had a great career ahead of me
and that my name would be appearing more during award galas like the Press Club of
New Orleans, sent shivers down my spine. It is so fulfilling to know people see who
I am and my passion through my work, as well as my potential.”
In making the presentation, Mouton said that the scholarship goes to aspiring
young journalists.
“It’s something we at the Press Club are very proud of doing,” Mouton said. “It
is our philanthropic end. Katie Moore, Dominic Massa, and Ramone Antonio Vargas of
WWL are all previous winners.”
Mackel said that scholarship winners can use the money toward room and board
or tuition.
“We truly get some outstanding journalists,” Mackel said. “Taylor studies broadcast
journalism and has a 3.5 GPA. She works for the Southeastern Channel, which has produced
some serious broadcast talent.”
“Really good stuff,” Mouton added. “They’ve won a bunch of Emmys.”
“Without question, let me say this,” Mackel said. “Randi Rousseau, who is a tremendous
asset to WDSU, came through the Southeastern Channel. Taylor Nettle does the sports
talk show, she does the “Big Game” of the week, she directs games for ESPN that are
Southeastern games, she’s an anchor and a reporter for Northshore News. This is definitely
someone who is going places. I have a feeling we’ll be talking about Taylor Nettle
for several years.”
As Mackel praised Nettle on the broadcast, WDSU anchor Gina Swanson tweeted at
Mackel, “We need to hire her now.”
In applying for the scholarship, Nettle had to submit her GPA, along with three
to five examples of published broadcast work. She said the Southeastern Channel has
provided her with the resources and experiences to have a strong foundation once she
graduates.
“I’ve gotten to work on live news broadcasts, interviewing public officials,
such as Governor John Bell Edwards, live game broadcasts, short films, and more,”
she said. “Getting to experience these events has shown me real world scenarios and
taught me so much more than a classroom.”
The Southeastern Channel has won over 400 national, international, and regional
awards, including 22 awards from the Emmys, in the past 19 years. The channel can
be seen on Spectrum 199 cable throughout the North Shore, and its 24/7 livestream
can be seen on Roku, AppleTV, and Amazon Fire TV and at both thesoutheasternchannel.com
and mounthermontv.com. The Southeastern Channel is on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
and YouTube.
