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Frank Hufnagel is a Long Island Scholar Artist
Out of all of Long Island, a few dozen students were recognized as exceptional artists. Of those recognized, two students per month (one from Suffolk County and one from Nassau County) were chosen to receive the Scholar Artist Award. Hauppauge High School (HHS) Senior, Frank Hufnagel, was honored as the Suffolk County Scholar Artist for November. At the end of this school year, all of the honorees will be invited to a gala celebration. Last spring, Hauppauge High School Television and Film Production Teacher, Mr. David Schaeffler convinced Frank to fill out an application so that he could nominate Frank for the honor.
Frank was recognized for his filmmaking talents. His passion is apparent when Frank talks about his art. “Film to me is the perfect art medium. It uses images like a painting, it can tell stories like literature, it can have amazing music as soundtracks. Film is, when done right, a culmination of the arts and storytelling, coming together to immerse the viewers in alternate reality."
Frank submitted a few of his short films to be seen and judged. Mr. Hufnagel’s films had already earned many accolades with awards in 1st and 2nd place in the National History Day Documentary competitions, Best in Show for the film short "Looking Back" at the Long Island Media Arts Show. The Ten-Day Film Challenge, New York Competition, recognized Frank's work with the Audience Choice award, Best Cinematography award, Best Editing, Best Actors and Best Film in NY State. Franks work has also taken 1st place in the 2016 DECA competition for a PSA for St. Jude's Children's Hospital as well as the 2017 2nd place award in the National Human Rights contest for a Public Service Announcement (PSA) focused on the charitable work of Harry Chapin and the fight against world hunger. In September, Frank was notified that he was accepted for the Scholar Artist Award.
Mr. Hufnagel plans on pursuing a career in filmmaking and has applied to several renowned film schools on the east coast. His main interest is in writing and directing. Frank‘s talents were encouraged and enhanced by his enrollment in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program. For more about the IB Diploma follow this link: https://www.hauppauge.k12.ny.us/Page/8489
For the past three years, Frank has been a volunteer at the Hamptons International Film Festival. At Hauppauge High School, Frank is a viola player for the HHS Chamber Orchestra, a member of the Film and Media Club, the National Honor Society, and of DECA (https://www.deca.org/about/). Mr. Hufnagel serves as an assistant director for the drama productions. He even played in the pit orchestra. Frank will be the assistant director of this year’s musical production, “How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying,” which will be performed at the high school for two nights on March 16th and 17th.
The goal of the Long Island Arts Alliance (LIAA ) program is to honor exceptionally accomplished high school seniors September to June. Selections are made, each spring, from a pool of Long Island students. From these nominees, one monthly award winner from Nassau and one from Suffolk is chosen. To learn more visit: http://longislandartsalliance.org/
LIAA’s Scholar-Artist Awards program recognizes students judged to be “the best of the best” on Long Island in both academics and in the arts. LIAA partners with area universities to offer full scholarships to qualified honorees. The LIAA Scholar-Artist Program is presented by the New York Community Bank Foundation (http://www.nycbfoundation.org/) and is produced in cooperation with Newsday (https://www.newsday.com/).