Two middle school anchors at Somerset Oaks Leadership and Innovation in Homestead won a 2026 national anchor team award.
Eighth-grader Alessa Cubero and her co-anchor, 13-year-old Kaylani Calderon, help produce stories in the school’s television studio. Students there anchor, film and edit broadcasts themselves. Cubero says the work has given her more experience with cameras, while Calderon says she has become more interested in watching the news.
Carlos Gonzalez, the school’s dean of students and television production director, said the program began with an iPad used to film shows during lunch. A former book closet became a studio as the program gained equipment. Gonzalez, now in his ninth year at the school, says he challenges the students to work at a high school level.
The students have competed nationally and received recognition beyond the anchor team award. Their production work also gives them practice collaborating, communicating and meeting deadlines.
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