ST. CLOUD – Local high school students have been recognized for their hard work in video production.
The Tech Morning Show recently won several student production awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Upper Midwest Foundation. The morning show is in its third year and Club Advisor Matt Keil says that students take on a variety of different roles.
Everyone does everything because they don’t know. If they say oh, I just want to get the camera working, then next week they’re like fine, can I do this interview? Yeah, you can do this interview! Anyone can do anything. They all need to know how to edit. They all need to know how to operate a camera. They all need to know how to hook everything up.
Launched three years ago during the construction of the new school, the morning show gives students hands-on experience in writing, producing, directing and editing their own videos which are assembled into episodes from 4 to 11 minutes. After review, the show is posted on the band’s YouTube channel.
Keil says that because the show is pre-recorded rather than live, students from all walks of life involved in a variety of other activities can participate.
Students can enroll at any time of the year. They can leave for other activities and come back. Not everyone spends the whole year. Some are in speech, some are in sports, some are in music.
Due to the format of the show, students can choose to do segments that interest them and cover topics they are passionate about. Senior Ruweyda Ali says she did a public service announcement about the school’s blood drive to combat cultural misconceptions.
When I was talking to some of my friends and other people at our school about blood drive and if they wanted to donate they were all hesitant because it was Ramadan and they weren’t sure if they could donate. his blood. So, I decided to research it because I knew you could donate blood, but I didn’t know the rules behind it.
Some of the students involved in the morning show say they are interested in pursuing a career or education in a media-related field, while others say they just enjoy doing it as a hobby.
The group was nominated for the Student Production Awards by the administration and submitted 10 clips for consideration from 220 entries from 35 schools in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Of those entries, Tech garnered eight nominations and won six awards in the Arts & Entertainment/Cultural Affairs, Music Video, Commercial, Director, Editor, and Photographer categories.
Junior Daniel Cook says the awards have boosted student morale.
It really lifted our spirits because Tech was a new school at this event, and we ended up winning the most prizes of all the schools that attended.
Student work moves on to the National Student Production Award level where they will compete against winners from other regions. These winners will be announced this fall.
