Nola Patty is a senior at Oakmont who has played an immense role in our community throughout the past few years. As well as playing lacrosse, being in the marching band, and broadcasting for AWCM TV, she has also been a part of the Oakmonitor for 3 years.
Recently Nola was named an All State Journalist along with 12 other high school students from the New England area. She was recognized and awarded for her success on Friday, May 3rd at the New England Scholastic Press Association conference in Boston.
Nola is also an ambassador for Morgans Message, a nonprofit organization determined to end the stigma surrounding student-athlete mental health. She recently hosted 2 Morgans message dedication games, one for Baseball and the other for girls lacrosse. Recently Nola also produced a film called “Coach of the Year.” This film follows the Oakmont Baseball coach and English Teacher Mr. Caouette and the Baseball team winning the title of D3 Baseball State Champions at Polar Park last June, as well as Caouette winning the Frank Carey Coach Of The Year Award.
“Nola Patty expertly captured the raw energy and emotion of our State Championship game with wisdom and insight beyond her years. From action shots to candids to celebratory and reflective moments, Nola’s keen eye and lens will allow all of us on our team, our families, those in our school, and those in our community, the opportunity to relive the final victory from our historic season forever. Her photos perfectly captured our success and the rollercoaster of emotions that came with it: passion, relief, and ultimately, triumph and joy. Most importantly, she captured the moments between the moments, compiling a story of what our title meant to all of us at Oakmont; those on the field and those who supported us all along from the stands.” – Tim Caouette
Nola grew up in a very athletic and hockey-focused family. Her mother Veronika is a self-employed photographer, and her father Tom is an associate head hockey coach for Fitchburg State. Since before she can remember, Nola has always wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Outside of her mom, Kait Devir is Nolas biggest role model. Kait Devir is a lacrosse goalie for USC, as well as a photographer and content creator. Nola took an interest in Kait’s YouTube page this past year and has plans to connect with her in the future. She admires her photography style and internet personality.
Broadcasting for Oakmont’s Hockey team was the turning point in Nola’s passion for sports media. It unlocked a new skill she didn’t know she had, as well as sparked months worth of excitement. Winter is Nola’s downtime; In the Fall she has marching band and in Spring she has lacrosse. Broadcasting for AWCM made the winter of her senior year memorable and important to her career.
“Since the start of this school year, Nola has volunteered at the Ash-West Community Media Studio, our local media station, doing a variety of live sports productions, generating a podcast, and outlining and producing a story on the baseball coach’s award-winning season. She has shown great eagerness to learn. This winter, Nola took on the role of play-by-play commentator for live broadcasts of Oakmont High School’s Varsity hockey games. Not only has she shown improvement in calling games, but she has also shown a big interest in the understanding of sports media as a whole. Nola is always prepared and is never shy about showing her passion for sports.” – Mike Milligan, AWCMS Access Coordinator
Nola considers her greatest accomplishment to be named an all-state journalist. The conference helped her network and connect with others with passions similar to her own, while also giving her ideas of what being a full-time journalist looks like.
Next Fall, Nola will be attending Fitchburg State as a freshman. She will be majoring in communications in the public relations and social media department and minoring in journalism, along with playing field hockey and lacrosse in college. Nola hopes to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and communications and from there, hopes to get an internship with NESN.
The goal Nola hopes to achieve would be to obtain a job in broadcasting, journalism, photography, or sports media management. Her dream is to work for the Boston Bruins or a college lacrosse team.
Currently, she is a social media manager for the Fitchburg States men’s ice hockey team as a part of her internship. This has been a positive experience for her because it allows her to be creative and experimental with her content. This has also allowed her to interact with students who she will be attending school next year. While balancing multiple projects, Nola stays organized by keeping separate folders in her Google Drive related to each project. She is working on bringing Morgan’s Message to Fitchburg State in the fall. She is also actively working at an ice hockey clinic as a social media manager to stay busy over the summer.
Her biggest struggle has been being looked down upon because of her age. They assume she may be less experienced than they are and will try to go above her to correct her work. The only advice Nola has to give to young women joining the sports media field is to have tough skin. Don’t second guess your ability to complete tasks because of your age or gender. Stay creative and constantly push the narrative to change the way women are viewed in sports. Network, it’s very important and is a great way to open opportunities for yourself and make connections in the sports world.
By Emily Gaudet, Reporter
