Heide Trask High School receives AV equipment to augment student journalism program

ROCKY POINT, NC (WWAY) — More than a dozen journalism students at Heide Trask High School produce a broadcast for their school each day.

Katie Dietzen is their teacher and says her students have been producing these broadcasts for the last three years.

During their second-period class, they have to write copy, record segments and edit everything together. The students know they have to collaborate and function as a team in order to meet their deadline each day.

These inventive students have transformed a scrappy office located in the library into a makeshift control room and an adjoining oversized closet space into a studio with a green screen where all the news, sports and other announcements are recorded.

Ja’Shua Walker is a senior at the school who’s graduating later this month. He’s been a part of the program since its inception.

When he started in the program, he says he was shy and that being involved in the program has helped him to develop the confidence he now has to be a leader.

“As the director, I give out the roles, make sure the team is good for the day we’re going to record, and make sure everything is set so it can go fluently and smoothly,” Walker said.

From anchoring to editing, everyone knows their role. More importantly, they know how to improvise and step in to fill the gap if anyone is absent. Two students serve as the primary anchors of the broadcast and other students provide daily reports on sports, weather and other regular segments.

“It’s fun to see them get excited about the stuff that feels relevant and purposeful, and watching them develop these skills that a lot of their peers don’t get a chance to do,” Dietzen said.

This week, the students got a really neat surprise.

The Brunswick Arts Council, the North Carolina Arts Council and the nonprofit, Teen Scene, pooled their resources to purchase audio-visual equipment including a tripod, lapel mics and podcast gear to loan to the students to use.

They’re tools, Walker said, that will help his classmates produce even higher-quality broadcasts in the future.

“It will increase our sound quality, it will make our in-field interviews go smooth and the video quality will be much more sufficient,” he said.

The goal of the partnership is to help Heide Trask High School strengthen its program while also helping its students serve as a model and inspiration for other middle and high schools across the Cape Fear region who might want to develop a similar program at their school with an emphasis on writing and journalism.

“I couldn’t do this without partnerships like Teen Scene, the Brunswick Arts Council, and North Carolina Arts Council because those networking opportunities really bolster me because sometimes it feels like I’m on an island in teaching and helping them but I know I am not,” Dietzen said. “It’s just a matter of reaching across those city and county lines to say, ‘Hey let’s all try to do this together,’ and that’s fun.”

In addition to producing a daily newscast at the school, students in Dietzen’s class also have the opportunity to write stories for the online publication “Teen Scene” which promotes the development of writing skills among teens.

It’s another opportunity for them to pursue their passion for writing and to have a wider audience reading their work. If you would like to submit stories for publication or partner with Teen Scene, click here.