By Kary Ellen Berger

It’s a Friday night as you tune into a high school football or basketball game. One might expect such a broadcast from a local news station, but this is the ENN—Elder News Network.

Established at Elder High School in the early 2000s as a club, ENN has had its current format since 2017, and now broadcasts games and competitions for all sports, a Friday morning show and occasionally the broader community’s events. Unsurprisingly, one of its first broadcasts was an Elder football game.

“[We wanted] to broadcast a playoff game to one uncle deployed in the Gulf who had never missed any of his nephew’s games,” said Dave Rapien, an alumnus who’s been involved in ENN.

“We used Elder’s internet connection for the streaming, which means we were limited to about 15 or 16 people [watching] simultaneously,” said previous ENN member Kevin Welch. “Within a few minutes of kickoff, all [ available streams were] taken up … The broadcasts were so popular that the streaming traffic actually prevented [others from visiting] the website.”

The network has come a long way, currently broadcasting more than 80 events annually, with students involved in every aspect of production. The club has evolved into Elder’s curriculum, thanks in part to alumnus Adam Duwel.

“In 2020, the Schaeper Center was renovated, which included the new state-of-the-art ENN broadcasting studio,” said Jeff Fuell, Technology Director and ENN & EHSports.com Broadcast co-moderator. “Since then, it has been a passion to offer our students a curriculum class to go along with the ENN club. Through Adam Duwel’s continued involvement while at college and during the summers as our technology
intern, it became apparent that he wanted to play a major role in teaching some broadcasting classes at Elder. And with the support of our principal, Kurt Ruffing, this passion became
reality.”

“ENN is all student run,” said Duwel. Staff members “help facilitate and teach the students, but all the work is done by the students. … We want our students to learn as much as they can in the video production world while they are at Elder, so they are ready to do anything they want to do in the industry after high school.”

It’s a quality broadcast from ENN, too, winning two Ohio Valley Emmy awards for their excellence in video production. Recently, local news station FOX 19 contacted Elder about simulcasting football games over their channel. So, two 2024 football games were broadcast on that channel, and all 10 of Elder’s home basketball games this season will be broadcast from there.

“ENN is an extension of the faith journey, here at Elder,” said Duwel. “Elder gives students many opportunities to use their God-given talents to help make the world a better place. ENN gives students the ability to use their talents that God gave them to help people connect with Elder, a place that many people found God in. Each year, Archbishop Schnurr comes to Elder for his conversation with all of the other archdiocese
schools.”

Elder students have the opportunity to learn about the ENN in their freshman year—and even before that. A summer camp through Elder gets younger students connected with the ENN. “I attended one of their summer camps for grade school students, got hooked and came back to a second one before my freshman year,” said Nick Liderbach. “Being in my senior year now, I can confidently say that ENN has been one of the biggest parts of my high school experience.”

While ENN has helped students learn multiple aspects of video production, it has taught them life skills as well. “I got involved in ENN to get the experience of a career in broadcasting majors in high school,” said student Brett McQuillan. “It is preparing me for my future by showing me how to work with people as part of a team … how to bring other people into the shows and [the] on-camera things I do.”

Students and adults involved with ENN recognize its impact and know it will only expand in the future.

“It’s hard to truly understand the impact that ENN has had on the Elder community,” said Duwel. “I have received multiple text messages from people saying, ‘Thanks for broadcasting the game, it was the last game I watched with my dad before he passed away.’ That gives you chills! It goes beyond just broadcasting a football game so people can watch. What we do has a real impact on people’s lives. Our grads that are serving in the military all around the world will still tune in to watch our broadcasts. … entire nursing homes on the West Side gather around on a Friday night to watch the Elder football game.

“ENN has already expanded a ton in the last five years,” continued Duwel. “The sky is the limit for us. Right now, I would like to see us continue to strive for the higher things and make the quality of our product even higher. We have the technology and resources available to us. I would like to continue our tradition of sending students off into the real world of broadcasting. I want students to come to Elder because they want to be involved with ENN.”

“ENN is one of my favorite clubs that I’ve ever been in,” said Brewer. “I couldn’t have asked for better, and yet they keep making it better. That’s why I love ENN so much!”

This article appeared in the January 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here