Award-Winning Islander Student Journalist Covers Academy Awards

While most of Mercer Island watches the Academy Awards on TV this Sunday, Islander Beth Laschever — video camera in hand — will be interviewing movie stars, directors and hobnobbing with other film industry leaders on the famous red carpet in Hollywood, covering the event live. 

Beth Laschever, a 2008 graduate, is part of a team of three Hofstra University students who will be reporting live from the 84th Academy Awards this Sunday after winning the On The Red Carpet College Journalist Contest on Feb. 9. 

Laschever, 22, and fellow contestants Jackie De Tore and Melanie Rubin were flown out to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid trip from Feb. 23 – 27, to cover several Oscar Week events — including the Foreign Language Film Award press event and the Governors Ball preview. 

For Laschever — who had never visited Hollywood before until this weekend — it's a "dream come true."

"We got a tour of the red carpet," she said. "Everything is still being prepped right now — all the news organizations and organizers are still setting up their media stuff — But it's still really cool just to be out there."

Their scheduled highlight for the college journalists will be working on Sunday, Feb. 26 with TV professionals with KABC-TV’s On the Red Carpet (OTRC) team and report live during the “On the Red Carpet at the Oscars” pre-show at the Kodak Theater at Hollywood & Highland Center — as well as visit backstage during the awards show and attending the Governor's Ball.

The contest will also offer them store credit at Macy's to buy evening gowns to the ball, since etiquette requires the semi-formal attire.

A George Clooney fan, Laschever said she hoped to meet him and fellow Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep at the various parties following the Oscars awards ceremony.

"t's funny, everyone says "'give George a hug from me.'," she said. "He's the biggest name that I've been hearing about. If I meet him it will probably be — unbelievable!"

Reached by telephone Friday at her hotel room at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, she said she felt like a "celebrity" herself. The sponsors of the contest, including local TV affiliate KABC and Research in Motion, gave each of them their own hotel room, a new Blackberry Bold smartphone and Play Book smart tablets — even a chauffeured driving service that whisks them off to their next scheduled event.

"It definitely feels like star treatment," Laschever said. "I've never had a smart phone before, so it's really exciting for me." 

Over the past several days, the college journalists have been working at a whirlwind-pace; conducting interview after interview before they even left New York — starting Wednesday in New York City at Grand Central Station for a "Meet the Oscars" event, then they hit Hollywood covering symposiums on Future Animation and Hair & Make-up.  

They will also have a team of TV producers and camera crew from KABC recording them for a feature as part of local news coverage of the Academy Awards. Laschever, who is typically found behind the lens of her JVC GY-HM100U compact handheld camcorder, said it was a strange sensation being part of the story herself.

"Everyone wants to talk to us," she said. "I'm not the best interview — I'm not used to having people asking me all the questions."

Laschever has been working as videographer, while De Tore, a broadcast journalism major, is the on-camera reporter, and Rubin is serving as unit producer. The three students attending the Hempstead, New York school were selected from over 200 entries, judged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and local Los Angeles ABC affiliate KABC-TV. Organizers said they based their pick on the team of student journalists who best used their journalistic skills and ability to represent the award organization (See their winning video here).

This year’s Academy Awards show will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 26, starting at 4 pm PST, and televised live to 225 countries worldwide. 

"If you ever wanted to have a Hollywood experience, I couldn't image a bigger or better way to do this than the Academy Awards."

You can also follow Laschever at the Academy Awards by clicking on her Twitter account, Beth_Lash and check out her past video work at her online portfolio, here.