On March 26, 50 students from McAuliffe Heights will be visiting the high school. They will spend their day touring the school and working with Broadcasting III and Live Media Production students and equipment.
The trip aims to get elementary students currently involved in Broadcasting to stick with it. Throughout their years in school, McAuliffe Heights students will be granted opportunities to work on the McAuliffe Heights production, Eagle TV. When they get to junior high, they will have opportunities to work on the Junior Paw Production (JPP), before being able to join the MLTV Broadcast.
The Eagle TV broadcast is produced once a month, and is shared to McAuliffe Heights students at school-wide assemblies. Their broadcast can also be accessed through the recently launched MHI Eagle TV website.
The Eagle TV club is structured to teach the students involved about different aspects of Broadcasting both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Students can have roles such as cameramen and women, meteorologists, skit actors, news anchors, reporters and script writers.
“Roles in front of the camera have learned that when you speak on camera you need to speak slowly and loudly, not kick their feet under the table, and to periodically look up at the camera. Skit Actors learned that they need to over exaggerate when performing,” Eagle TV adviser Kristin Wineland said. “We film a lot of lip syncs for our Leader In Me segments, and the students have learned it looks better when they over exaggerate their motions. Script Writers know that they are the heart of the show. Without them our show would not be possible. They help come up with the segments that make the show while also writing out what the news anchors and reports should say. Camera people learned that they cannot talk when we are filming and that they need to cue the news anchors on when to speak. Although I am the one who edits the whole show together, they have quickly learned what I do and how I do it.”
Visiting students will also be given the opportunity to work with MLTV students. They will be teaching MHI students about different aspects of Broadcasting and about the different equipment involved in making a production.
“Broadcasting is a great field, and you can go into all kinds of different jobs in broadcasting,” senior Caleb Fries said. “I think it’s a great way to express creativity and also learn people skills and know how to interact with others. It really creates a well-rounded person.”
Along with the students, parents and teachers will also be chaperoning the trip. While the main focus of the trip will be the experience of the visiting students, parents and teachers will also have opportunities to learn about the equipment and help if necessary.
“The parents and teachers will be exploring everything with the students but I will also be getting ideas for our club. I am always trying to improve our club and think of new and exciting things to add,” Wineland said. “I understand that this is Mr. Sipes’ last year here at the high school. He was a teacher when I was in high school and, although I was not directly involved in the MLTV in my time at the high school, I still got to experience it as a student and saw the value it offers. That is why Miss Sackandy and myself created Eagle Tv for elementary students to get the same opportunities.”
The visiting students will be spending the majority of their day in the MLTV studio but will also be spending time in other parts of the school for tours. They will be leaving McAuliffe Heights at about 9:30 a.m. and will be leaving the high school at about noon.
“Their experience is going to be very quick, but they’re going to get to see all of the equipment,” Broadcasting teacher Douglas Sipes said. “Some of my students will be helping them out to use our equipment and showing them how to produce a morning show.”
Students in Sipes’ Broadcasting III and Live Media Production class will be assisting the students with production and some will be directing building tours.
“I hope they get to see the cool opportunities that they’ll have whenever they come through the high school, and even in the junior high,” Fries said. “I think Broadcasting is a great program. They get to see all of the cool technology, they get to see how it works and hopefully they’ll find an interest in that.”
