 | Cierra King is a Senior at Northwest High School. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Newspaper staff, and the varsity track and field team. Outside of school King is involved in her church youth group, and participates with Fashionetta. After graduating King plans to attend the University of Kansas, and major in journalism and mass communications. After graduating the University of Kansas, she wants to become a magazine editor for Teen People magazine. |
Teens' Forum
2006-12-01 15:48:00
What’s new at our local high schools
ANSWER: In the second semester of the 2005-2006 school year, two, 10-foot screen, projection televisions were donated to Northwest. Shortly thereafter, parents, coaches and business leaders came up with the idea of building the NWHS TV Network. Papa John’s and AT&T donated a hardware/software system to make it all happen, called SCALA. The new network kicked off at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year.
Since the network’s debut, Northwest has purchased a new sound ‘sensing’ system to better control the sound. It is still being tweaked and will work wonderfully to sense the ambient sound and adjust the volume accordingly when finished. The cost for this ‘sensing’ system was $7,000. Businesses, parents, PTA, booster club and pop machine revenue supported the funding.
Original plans were for the big screens to show upcoming athletic events and highlights of past events. Now the screens are being used for all student athletics and activities.
“There are a lot of programs that do not get noticed. Hopefully the recognition of all athletics and activities will increase and spread more pride and spirit,” Principal Jim McNiece said.
It was not until this year when the big screens were going to be used for the Northwest television productions (NWHS TV).
“The parents and coaches promoted the idea of NWHS TV. Ed Edison and Shawn Thudium are the two parents that provided the leadership to get the project off the ground,” McNiece said.
During the summer, business teachers Brian Latta and Robin Bowman, along with three students, went through a training course, to become familiar with the SCALA software.
“This software allows documents, videos and pictures to be integrated into a broadcast media program. Some of the local stations, such as cable channel 22, use this same software,” said Brian Latta, Marketing teacher.
Advertisers include local restaurants, retailers, military and colleges. Only 25% of the broadcast day is made up of ads, the other 75% is school-related. All net proceeds from the advertising go towards Northwest athletics and club activities.
“We want the NWHS TV to generate enough money through the sale of ads, so that we can eliminate the purification of fundraising among athletics and activities,” McNiece said.
Besides the generation of money, the developed curriculums such as Sports Marketing, and Computer Technology 2, are involved in creating documents and presentations through Photoshop. These classes give students an opportunity to use digital tools and skills for future career purposes. Students also get a hand on experience of learning how to use marketing and editing skills.
“The curriculum is based on an operational television station. The students are responsible for all of the programming, except for the advertising. This curriculum gives them a great opportunity for college and future broadcasting,” Latta said. If a student wants to advertise a school-related activity, they can contact Bowman or Latta. If a student wants to advertise something that is not school- related, they can contact Chart Marketing, Inc. which is contracted with Northwest to market the ads to local, regional and national businesses and their respective advertising agencies.
“This is in fact a TV station and what the students produce fall under the rules of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This is a long-term commitment that I think will have a tremendous positive impact,” McNiece said.
The broadcast day runs from 7 – 8 a.m., during passing periods and lunch, and after school from 3:10-3:30 p.m.
