Best of the Week 2019-2020: Excellence in College Prep

SETV RETURNS TO ST. ED'S, PROVIDING STUDENTS WITH AN AUTHENTIC BROADCAST JOURNALISM EXPERIENCE

In the 90's, St. Ed's installed televisions in each classroom for students to watch "Channel One," a daily news program for teens that was run by high school students. To add to the content that Channel One broadcasted, St. Ed's created SETV to utilize their film and broadcast technology and to visually communicate morning announcements through a more appealing and interactive platform. Student anchors were even given their own segments to announce special events, such as "Advice to Freshmen on How to Dance at Homecoming," or "Deep Thoughts with Enya Music" and other segments that reflected students' interests. With scheduling changes and the removal of homeroom period, SETV was phased out from the formal, regularly scheduled segments to special announcement videos that were shared occasionally to the community.

St. Ed's Student Life Office, under the direction of Mr. Matt Wallenhorst '05, Associate Dean of Student Life & Leadership, wanted to engage with students in a more interesting way once a week for this school year. After collaborating with Principal KC McKenna '00, Associate Dean of Academics & IB Coordinator Mr. Nick Kuhar, and St. Ed's Film Department, Mr. Wallenhorst and the Cross & Anchors Society decided to bring SETV back to St. Ed's. With the help of Ms. Lydia Munnell, Film Department Chair, and Ms. Maya Wanner, Film teacher, students will be creating weekly SETV videos that their classmates will watch every week and that will communicate and inform them about upcoming events, school news, and highlights of their achievements throughout the year. "Ms. Munnell and I have come up with a process to field announcements coming in to stay up-to-date on different activities that would interest our students," says Mr. Wallenhorst. "From running segments on the new school backpack policy, announcing the theme of the first football game of the season, and interviewing St. Ed's new principal, our first two SETV segments have been viewed with a lot of positivity."

"SETV is a great testament to our film students' ability to deliver a representation of their technical skills under a deadline," says Ms. Munnell. "Students get to shoot, write and edit their SETV segments - taking what they've learned in their past film courses and putting them to use in a cooperative environment. Like all our film projects at St. Ed's, SETV demands students to work together to create a polished, technically-sound finished product each week, which can benefit them in any career path. Beyond that, our film department hasn't delivered a broadcast journalism experience to its students for the past several years. While broadcast journalism doesn't fit tidily into a class, it's great to be able to have SETV to allow students an authentic experience and a real deadline to adhere to. "

"SETV provides students with an opportunity to see, learn and understand more about life at St. Ed's in an entertaining and professional way," says Mr. Wallenhorst. "Our goal is for SETV to create a positive peer connection to allow everyone to see and interact with the same messages." Check out the first segment of SETV above and click here to watch this week's SETV video.