Students broadcast school news on the Internet

By Tom Stanton (Access Magazine)

Sporting an on-field press pass and toting a notebook, Steven Wolfson approaches baseball great Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres and coolly inquires, "So, Tony, now that you've reached 3,000 hits, what's next?"

A routine scene, perhaps, except this reporter is a 13-year-old student filming the interview for an Internet broadcast.

"Being on that field, talking to major-league players like I was some big reporter from ESPN, it was just amazing," Wolfson says.

Using digital video equipment similar to that used by TV networks, Wolfson and his classmates at Aviara Oaks Middle School in Carlsbad, Calif., broadcast a live news program, called AOTV, Mondays at 8:30 a.m., 10:25 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. PST. "I've decided that I want to be a news anchor one day," says AOTV anchor Megan Proctor, 14. "This program has really helped me in learning how time consuming it's going to be."

News on the 10-minute show ranges from recaps of school dances to profiles of celebrities like Gwynn. The students manage TelePrompTers, make digital edits and create virtual sets.

AOTV overseer Doug Green, an Aviara Oaks teacher, also runs Studentbroadcasts.com, a site that supplies multimedia teachers with advice on equipment.

Some Aviara students wonder if they will find a high school program as sophisticated as their production. They would if they lived in Apple Valley, Minn., where Tyler Krebs' students at Eastview High School produce an online news magazine show called The Flash, airing live Thursdays at 11:05 a.m. CST. Topics range from profiles on teachers and teams to reports on the efforts of school clubs such as Students Against Driving Drunk.

"This class mirrors real life," says Eastview senior Jennie Bierlein, 18. "If we don't make our deadlines, we don't put out a show, just like the real world."

The pressure is worth it, says 17-year-old Eastview senior John Granos, for the chance at juicy assignments. His most memorable: an investigative report on Eastview's principal. "I didn't turn up any dirt on him," Granos recalls, "but it was fun trying."