Students on the air

Things went without a hitch during Wednesday morning’s news broadcast at Greenacres Middle School – mostly. There was that small issue with the sound cord being yanked prematurely, leaving students throughout the school to watch the credits roll in silence.

Everything went well thanks to preparation the previous day and several rehearsals before the live broadcast began promptly at 8:25 a.m. Newscasters Kurt Beck and Jace Gummersall, dressed in suits and ties, practiced their lines as they sat in front of a green wall. Their prepared text scrolled on a computer screen that serves as a teleprompter. “Can you put a comma in there?” Kurt asked after one run through.

Weatherman Mitch Cline told camera operator Dakota Pearce to watch how far he panned the camera. “Zoom in more when you do the weather,” he said. “You got the table in there.”

The eighth-grade students are all part of a special multimedia class that puts together the yearbook and does a daily broadcast that goes to every classroom in the building. Students work in teams and take turns being in front of the camera. The broadcast began five years ago, after the building was remodeled and got the equipment to make it all come together.

“We have taken the system we have to the absolute max,” said teacher Michele Eickerman, who oversees the broadcast program. “It’s fairly complicated. They do a great job.”

Each broadcast includes news, sports and weather as well as student birthdays and the lunch menu. On Fridays the students produce a one-minute video wrap-up of the week’s events called “Week in a Minute.”

The accident with the sound cord isn’t the first time things have gone wrong. Earlier in the week the computer-generated backgrounds didn’t work. “We didn’t have any transitions,” Mitch said. “Nothing worked at all.”

There was another time when everything rolled at a super-slow speed. “It took like three minutes to go through the Pledge of Allegiance,” Jace said.

“We learn from our mistakes,” Kurt said.

They all claimed they’re no longer nervous in front of the camera. “Just picture like you’re talking to one person,” Kurt said.

The popular class is only open to eighth-graders. Seventh-graders who want in are required to write a letter of interest and have to have a teacher recommendation. There’s room for 50 students in the sixth-period classes for journalism and broadcast. Students who are accepted get a letter in the mail letting them know they’ve made it.

Kurt wanted in because he thought it would be fun. Now he’s decided that he wants to do broadcasting as a career. “The class is fun,” he said. “It’s my favorite.”

Jace applied as part of a family tradition. “My sister did it last year and she always talked about how fun it was,” he said. “I’m not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but this is definitely one I would consider.”

The students take turns operating the equipment and being in front of the camera. Lucas Schneidmiller monitored equipment on Wednesday, but said he prefers to be in front of the camera. “My day is Friday,” he said. “It’s pretty much the thrill, the excitement.”

Eickerman said she lets the students take the lead as much as possible. “We really try to set it up so they take the ownership,” she said. “The broadcasts get better. It seems like every group of kids wants to take it a step up.”

In addition to working on the daily broadcast and the yearbook, students in the multimedia class also make posters for student birthdays and sports event. “Kids do different things every day, which I think they like,” she said. “There are lots of options in this class.”

Students in the class are enthusiastic. In addition to preparing for their broadcasts the previous day in sixth period, students arrive at 7 a.m. to finish up and rehearse. “They’d get here earlier, but I said 10 to 7 is the earliest I want to be here,” Eickerman said. “It’s great to have kids want to come to school every day.”