Kids put on live newscasts at school

Students from Seminole Live on the set of News 10 WTSP

My daughter Graci is in fifth grade and part of the news team at her elementary school called Seminole Live! It's made up of about 10 kids who work together every weekday morning before school begins to put on a five minute newscast for the entire school at the beginning of the school day. Their newscast includes: activities going on at the school that day, the weather, sports, a word of the day, students birthdays and the school breakfast and lunch menu. Each student has a job and they work together to put on the live newscast each morning.

One student is the main anchor, a few of the students report on the different segments of the news and the others are behind the scenes running the teleprompter, camera and making the graphics.

Graci was one of the main anchors.
 This photo taken on her birthday.

I have had the pleasure of watching several of the students newscasts this past year and I am so impressed by this group of kids. They do have a wonderful teacher, Jarnae Pope, who is in charge of the kids and the newscast.  She's there to oversea everything and help with any technical issues that may come up, but other than that the kids are doing it all themselves.

As a person with a background in television news, it's incredible to see this opportunity for students. It brings me back to my days of being a reporter and anchor at a television station. I wish we had a morning news crew when I was in school. It's way for students to get first-hand experience in a possible career.

Seminole Live crew!

Students outside
News 10 WTSP

Recently the students were able to go on a field trip to one of the local television stations News 10 WTSP.  A friend of mine who is a manager and has a community segment on the news at WTSP, Kathryn Bursch, gave the kids a tour of  the station. It was a  great experience for the kids because most had never been to a real television station. They were able to go behind the scenes of the station including the newsroom and the studio. They even watched the noon news live in the studio, which was their favorite part of the tour.

Graci interviewing
Meteorologist Ric Kearbey.

They also meet the anchor  and several of the weathermen working that day. It gave the kids a better understanding of what a real studio was like and how things worked in front of the camera and behind the camera.

Here is anchor Ian Reitz in front of the
green screen reading the news.

 Having experiences like this at such a young age can help influence kids in career directions and give students something to strive for as they get older. I know most schools today in the Tampa Bay area do have newscasts for their schools put on and run by students.

At my daughter's school, at the end of the school year the kids in fourth grade who have good grades get to choose between being a patrol at the school or being part of the news for their fifth grade year . It's something the kids have to look forward to when they go back to school in the fall for fifth grade. It not only motivates the students to do well in school, but is giving them  tools for possible careers in the future.  Who knows one of these kids may be the next big anchor for the national news! 

**More photos from WTSP and the field trip.

Students practicing in front of the green screen.

Randi on the news desk of News 10 WTSP