The good work being done to area high school students in the Northern Lights School Division (NLSD) will soon be available for broadcast for the whole world to see on YouTube.
Jared Nichol, leader of the multimedia program at Cold Lake High School (CLHS), made an impressive presentation to the NLSD school board on Feb. 9 informing them about the success and expansion of NLSD-TV.
The initiative will see CLHS students produce their own monthly broadcast focusing on a “Good News” concept, with each month's show based on a theme taken from high school initiatives and programs throughout the school district, said Nichol.
Some of the topics and initiatives being discussed for coverage once NLSD-TV is up and running include health and wellness, literacy, full-day kindergarten, student leadership, social media and technology, Nichol told the board.
The monthly show will be uploaded for broadcast on YouTube, which will be available for all students, parents and the world at large to view, Nichol said.
“The goal is to bring all the good news happening across the school division to our audience,” said Nichol. “It will give our students a real world experience.”
Nichol stressed students in his program will be doing all the production work, both on-screen and technical.
After hearing details about the program, trustees quickly approved a funding request by Nichol for $2,000, which will be used to purchase another video camera.
Creating NLSD-TV perfectly complements the current Royals Television (RTV) production program being offered at CLHS, Nichol said.
Each school day, RTV produces a five to seven-minute newscast for students, by students. The audience response to RTV has been exceptional with more than 5,400 views of newscasts so far this school year, he said.
Students not only learn about producing a high-quality show, but learn all the facets of broadcast journalism, the impact of social media and working with teachers and school administration to tackle important issues, all while having a great deal of fun, said Nichol.
“We've done good work on RTV and I think we can do even better work on NLSD-TV,” Nichol told the board. “We will be creating our own YouTube channel … and the goal is to take a good look at all of the good work being done in our school division.”
Nichol said he got the idea to expand the program by getting information about a similar high-school based broadcast program in Arkansas. Nichol recently went to visit teachers and students in the North Littlerock school division and came away greatly impressed and convinced his students could put together a similar quality broadcast.
All 22 of his students enrolled in the program will help produce the monthly broadcast, with another four or five students from CLHS being accepted to volunteer their time, he said.
“I have roughly 16 jobs that need to be done for roughly 26 students,” he said.
Trustee Gary Kissel said he is thoroughly impressed with the program and opportunities it will create.
“If I had had this kind of opportunity when I was a student, I think it would have been fantastic,” he said. “I really support this.”
Trustee Ruth Snyder agreed.
While CLHS students will be doing the broadcast jobs and a lot of the work, the goal is to benefit students from across the NLDS area, which should have an immense positive impact on hundreds of high school students and their teachers, she said.
Trustee Danny Smaiel said he believes numerous students involved in this program will pursue careers in broadcasting or production as a result. Smaiel said he would like to see many experienced journalists brought in to assist students and judge their work once the program is up and running.
When asked what the future of NLSD-TV might be going forward, Nichol said he is only concentrating on the present.
“My vision is to put together a good show for March, April, May and hopefully June and go from there,” he said. “Let me get through these first four shows and we'll go from there.”
His multimedia students are genuinely excited about producing the monthly broadcast and he believes they are going to produce a show everyone involved can be very proud of, said Nichol.
Nichol said content ideas will be forwarded by school principals, NLSD communications director Nicole Garner and himself.
