40 students selected for new Carson Center cohort

Forty Huskers — 20 first-year students and 20 transfer students — have been selected to join the latest cohort of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts.

This is the sixth cohort for the center, which opened in fall 2019. There will be 146 emerging media arts majors this fall. 

While 31 of the 40 students hail from Nebraska, the 2024 cohort also includes students from Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, South Dakota and India.

“I continue to be impressed with the students who apply to our program,” said Megan Elliott, Johnny Carson Endowed Director in Emerging Media Arts. “I’m excited for the year ahead to see how this incoming class will thrive.”

The Carson Center is part of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts. A crucial part of the program curriculum focuses on equipping students to navigate the transformative impacts of artificial intelligence and virtual production that have changed the face of several industries, including film.

Applications for the fall 2025 cohort will open soon. Details will be available at https://go.unl.edu/emaapplication.

Following is a list of students selected to the 2024-25 emerging media arts cohort by hometown with their high school listed in parenthesis. If the student is either a transfer or readmitted student, then “transfer” is listed instead of a high school.

Nebraska

• Alliance: Mason Trumble (Alliance)
• Bellevue: Dolan States (transfer)
• Bennington: Justine Huse (Bennington)
• Broken Bow: Kylen Borders (transfer)
• Creighton: Autumn Key (Creighton Community)
• Kearney: Tasha Russell (transfer); Sophia Strong (transfer)
• Kennard: Kyle Gross (Blair)
• Lincoln: Joseph Fick (transfer); Felicity Jacobsen (transfer); Marsy Jimenez-Statler (transfer); Jude Kroeze (transfer); Mirabella Kundhi (Lincoln Southwest); Asher Lahm (transfer); Eli Larson (Lincoln High); Emiliano Munoz-Contreras (Lincoln Southwest); Natalie Schmersal (transfer); Riley Anne Schreiner (transfer); Ian Tuck (home school); Nicholas Vanek (Lincoln High)
• Milford: Blaze Shepard (transfer)
• Omaha: Peter Jensen (Omaha Central); Ella Konwinski (Millard West); Benjamin Logsdon (home school); Dallas Luckenbill (Millard North); Kaden McCandless (transfer); John Trenolone (transfer); Hannah Wiesenfeld (transfer); Jude Winslow (transfer)
• Papillion: Caroline Caskey (Papillion-LaVista South)
• Scottsbluff:  Diego Larsen (transfer); Benjamin Vidlak (transfer)

Elsewhere

• Auburn, Alabama: Dracen Pedersen (Auburn)
• Castle Rock, Colorado: Selah Young (Ascent Classical Academy)
• Naperville, Illinois: Raffi Viton (transfer)
• Overland Park, Kansas: Henry Monahan (Blue Valley)
• Worthington, Minnesota: Marisa Their (Worthington Senior)
• Fort Pierre, South Dakota: Grace Soma (transfer)
• Sioux Falls, South Dakota: Naomi Rock (Washington)
• Mumbai, India: Nyssa Fernandez (Universal)