Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412210039
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Paula Morris walked around with her monkey slippers on.
Her fellow students chattered away.
Then things got quiet.
Real quiet.
The teacher spoke: "We've been working on this for a long time. Take a deep breath, and let's do it."
The cameras rolled, and last week Franklin County High School's first student-produced newscast, "Through the Eagle's Eye," flowed in one take with only a few minor hitches.
The teacher, Mark Early, took his own deep breath after the show's anchors - Morris and Pamela Anderson - closed the program.
"We did it," he said to the class. "Now let's get ready to talk about what we did right, and what we did wrong."
Early's students had already started the critique.
Anderson, a junior who plans on pursuing a career in broadcasting, talked about her mispronunciation of a word. Those in the control room discussed a cut to a wrong camera.
But, overall, the students handled the first taping of "Through the Eagle's Eye" with poise and execution.
Abby Cundiff, a junior who served as the floor director, said the students were well aware of the pressures of television production.
"I took this class for fun," she said. "But I found out what hard work it is. I really enjoy it, though."
The 30-minute show included stories gathered by telecommunication students that pertained to activities and people at the high school.
During the first part of the school year, the students learned the basics of television production, reporting and writing from Early, no stranger to the nerve-wracking world of live television.
He was a broadcast journalist for Roanoke's WSLS (Channel 10) for five years and was best known for his easygoing "Spirit of Virginia" spots that featured the good things happening around the region.
The Lee County native said he really enjoyed his job at Channel 10.
But it just so happened that Franklin County School Superintendent Len Gereau was looking for the right person to teach the first telecommunications classes in a newly renovated television studio on the second floor of the high school's technology center.
Gereau said he ran into Channel 10 news anchor John Carlin, a Franklin County resident, and after they discussed the school system's need, Early's name popped up.
Gereau sought out Early and hired him.
"We sat down, and he said, 'These are some of the things I'd like to see, but you do what you think will work,' " Early said of Gereau.
The school system's commitment to the program was obvious, Early said. The studio was outfitted with up-to-date editing equipment, lights and video cameras
The school also has its own cable access channel - "The Franklin County Learning Channel" - that all of the county schools can tap into. "Through the Eagle's Eye" is scheduled to appear weekly on cable Channel 40 after the first of the year.
Gereau and Early see a day in the very near future when high school students will teach topics such as foreign language to elementary school kids through the use of video.
"It's a win-win situation," said Gereau. "The high school students will get more out of the learning process because they'll be teaching. And the elementary school kids, I think, will sit and watch high school students much quicker than they would an adult."
The television studio and telecommunications curriculum is the newest of several technology-based subjects matched with laboratories at the high school.
Others include electronics and computer-assisted drafting.
A new "technology center" was approved by Franklin County voters in a November referendum. Plans call for all eighth grade students to spend a semester at the school - which will provide labs for students to learn about robotics, satellite communications and other high-tech topics. Selected ninth grade students will continue their work at the center.
Gereau's goal: to help students make career decisions earlier in their academic cycles by giving them a taste of the skills that will be needed in the 21st century.
"The only way to help students make career decisions is to give them exposure," he said. "Our kids will have a lot better chance on the open market."
by CNB