In March, Manheim Central High School senior Heaven Irish-Fyke had an opportunity to step outside of her comfort zone, and she took it.

She became the first Manheim Central student ever selected to serve as a presenter at the Student Television Network Conference, a gathering of high school students who compete in a variety of broadcast events over the course of several days in Long Beach, Calif.

Manheim Central has been attending the conference for 18 years, sending students to all but two of the events since the premiere conference in 2004. Heaven's teacher, Jon Charles, knew she'd make a great presenter, so he encouraged Heaven to audition earlier this school year. He had been impressed with her work on-camera with Baron Nation Network, the school's TV station.

"Heaven has an amazing camera presence," Charles said. "Since the first time she was an anchor on our daily broadcast, I have thought she could have a career on camera. Over the years several adults and students have commented about how well she does on our show. I had a feeling that if we could get her to audition, that she would be selected."

Heaven was nervous but excited about the chance to take such an active role in the conference. She sent in an audition tape and found out about a month later that she'd been selected.

"I thought, 'I might as well audition. Maybe I'll get it, maybe I won't, but I should try," she recalled. "I was super excited when I found out I won."

At the conference, Heaven was one of 16 students chosen to present awards in front of more than 3,000 attendees. "Public speaking is not really something I have done before," she said. "It was a little nerve wracking, but I was also trying to hype myself up. It was such a unique experience and who knows when I'd be able to do something like this again?"

Six other Manheim Central students joined Heaven at the conference - Sarah Hondru, Emma Adair, Mikayla Appel, Lexi Wettig, Alyssa Duong and Alyse Haldeman. They were chaperoned by Charles and teacher Mary Nolt. All of the students are part of the Baron Nation Network club and have taken courses in photography, broadcasting and/or film.

At the conference, the students participated in a variety of challenges and competitions, including Crazy 8s, where the whole group had eight hours to plan, film, edit and submit a film. The students competed in several other events at the conference, including action sports editing, vlog, vertical short film and silent film.

Heaven, the daughter of Gary Fyke and Shanna Irish-Fyke of Manheim, said she'll never forget her experience at the conference, and she's excited for what the future holds after she graduates from high school this spring. She plans to attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania to study digital marketing.

Her teacher knows she has a bright future.

"As talented as Heaven is in front of the camera, she actually prefers to work behind the scenes, where she is equally as talented with her filming and editing," Charles said.