TV class produces half-hour magazine
By: Bill Greenwood
Students in South Brunswick High School’s advanced studio production for television class say they have a leg up on their competition.
Working with Final Cut Pro, the industry-standard video-editing software, on high-tech Apple computers, the students said they were getting valuable real-world experience that would help them get into college, secure internships and ultimately land them a job in the communications industry.
However, senior Daren Caesar said the class, currently in its first year, has done more than simply prepare him for the future. In fact, it has helped him with his current out-of-school hobby: editing music videos for local artists.
"(The class) actually broadened my horizons out in the public because I deal with people like artists, and they want music videos done, and they don’t know how to use (Final Cut Pro)," he said. "They’d actually rather go to me and ask me for help."
All this attention from the outside world comes with good cause, however, as the class doesn’t seem like a class at all. Rather than consisting of a lecture, homework and tests, the class is actually more of a meeting place for the crew of Viking Television Network’s news talk show "Making the Grade," which premiered in November and is produced entirely by the students in the class, according to teacher Shaun Ruymen.
"(The students) are coming in here, they’re treating this like a job," he said. "They don’t get treated like they’re coming in to the classroom. They know our expectations when they come into the room. They know that if they have a deadline, it needs to be met."
The program’s format is a cross between a typical news show and CNN’s now-defunct "Crossfire," in which political pundits debated the issues of the day, according to Mr. Ruymen. It can be viewed throughout the month on Comcast Cable Channel 28.
During the show, about four, three-to-five-minute news packages created by the students and dealing with events and happenings in the South Brunswick school district are shown. Afterward, a panel consisting of Superintendent Gary McCartney and a rotating group of three district teachers, administrators, or students discuss what they have just seen. The panel portion of the show is shot entirely in one take.
Senior Connor Henderson, who directed the program’s first panel segment, said working on that portion of the show was a hard but rewarding experience.
"It was tough," he said. "No one knew what to expect, so I was just going on the fly. The teachers were really supportive in helping us, and if we messed up, we were able to go back and fix it, but we really tried to get it all in one take. It was just fun. It was exciting."
Past packages have touched on subjects ranging from the school’s powder puff football game to the college application process. However, it is sometimes necessary to cut packages in order to keep the show within its 30-minute time frame, Mr. Ruymen said. Those whose segments were cut seem to be taking it in stride.
"(I made a package about) Community Unity Day, which was never aired because it was too long," senior Chris Moore said. "It’s a bummer, but the show must go on. It was good though, the show was good."
Each month, a new student producer is selected to be in charge of the show. This month, that position fell to Daren, who must print out letters asking subjects for interviews, design a new intro scene for the program and watch over the rest of the staff to ensure that work is being completed on schedule. While he said he is enjoying the job, he prefers working on packages.
"I feel like I can focus more on just the topic instead of having to be on top of everyone else," he said. "I can’t control them all at one time, so it’s a lot of work, and if someone messes up, it’s basically on me or them. It’s not that bad though, I guess. You get used to it."
For many of the students, working on the program has reaffirmed their interest in the communications field.
"I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do, and this is almost what it is to be in the real world and doing it, and I love it," Connor said. "This really reassures me that this is what I want to do."
Others are already planning on using the experience to jump into bigger and better things.
"I’m looking at some internships this summer, and this class will definitely be on the resume," Chris said. "(I was at) the National Association of Broadcasters conference in October. I was talking to CNN, and they need some guys for field engineers. And there’s a broadcast rental service, which I’m looking at too."
As for Daren, he’s just focused on putting together a show that continues building on the foundation the class has constructed for itself with its previous two broadcasts.
"We’re doing pretty good so far, and I think it’s just going to get better overall as time goes on," he said.

