Schofield students get first-hand experience on, behind the camera

The television news show production could have been anywhere - the on-air talent, the set manager, the camera operator, the producers giving instructions and the staffer handling the news script teleprompter.

The only difference is that these TV people are all eighth-graders at Schofield Middle School. They alternate roles on a regular basis.

"Being an anchor was nervewracking at first, but I got used to it," said Maggie Camp.

The students tape the show each afternoon for broadcast the next morning and handle the entire process themselves with the guidance of media specialist Steve Smith. He started the news team program about nine years ago. Former principal Beatrice McGhee, now retired, asked Smith to provide announcements over television.

"I had a background in video production, and this has been fun," he said. "I brought a camera to school, patched it in through the system and kids read the announcements."

When the school received a major renovation a few years later, the new library got a small studio area that has gradually gotten additional equipment.

One day last week, Hunter Jackson and Hunter Wilson handled the on-air part. Ben Riley and Nicholas Gordon served as producers, while Camp, Kayla Coons and Isabella Holland had production roles. Billy Johns was that day's set manager, and Joseph Johns handled the camera work.

The students work hard to make sure they get all of the news and announcements right. If they make mistakes during taping, the show must go on, just like any major network or cable broadcast.

"It's a lot of responsibility," said Gordon. "The anchors have the most responsibility each day because they're the ones being seen."

The students select music for the show, said Camp, which varies from country, hip-hop and even classical. This crew started last year as seventh-graders, but their work is coming to an end.

Smith will bring in a new group of seventh-graders to get started for the spring semester and then the first semester next fall. It will be sad to give it up, Gordon said.

The other students at Schofield like the show, Wilson said. The young broadcasters try to include some humor with every production, "but our jokes are not very good," she said. "We've got to find better jokes."

Contact Rob Novit at novit@aikenstandard.com.