A group of Franklin Central School seniors are leading the charge to spread the news through a reporting-based elective class.
The students collaborate in class each week to put together news segments, including world news, sports and local news, which are released in episodes on YouTube and Facebook.
Social studies teacher Steve DeCarlo, who leads the class, said Tuesday, Feb. 3 that he originally taught a current events elective, which spiraled into the concept for a class dedicated to producing a newscast.
“I had the idea that it was all well and good, that we were talking about the current issues and keeping up with stuff that was going on, but the kids get a little bored with it,” DeCarlo said. “I came up with an idea of let’s do a little newscast with it just to play around with it. It morphed into what turned into the news class.”
While this year’s class is made up of five seniors, DeCarlo said, the class is open to all high school grades. The number of kids who sign up varies from year to year, he said.
“This year it worked out really well,” DeCarlo said.
He has been teaching this specific version of the class for about three years, DeCarlo said. It meets every other day during one period, about 40 minutes, for the full year.
Students do a lot of work outside of class, and one student, Oliver Lamb, does all of the editing for the news program, DeCarlo said.
Lamb said Wednesday, Feb. 11 he got into video editing at the start of the school year, using Adobe Command Pro, which the school provides.
Students aim to put episodes out weekly, Lamb said, but usually they end up being released closer to every other week.
DeCarlo added that the students will go around the school each episode to pose questions to the student body or faculty about a current topic. He said for instance, in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, students asked individuals which teams they wanted to win.
An interview segment features a new faculty member or staff member at the school, DeCarlo said. The students enjoy incorporating “cheesy jokes” here and there, in addition to a blooper segment, he added.
DeCarlo said it has been rewarding to see this specific group of students collaborate and work together because although he has been their teacher in previous years, he is now seeing them “in a different light.”
He added that the students have become more comfortable with public speaking. He said it has been nice to see them step outside of their comfort zone.
It additionally helps them to become more aware of what is happening in the world, DeCarlo said. Students also have gained production skills, like using editing software and producing a news show, he said. DeCarlo said he has seen the quality of the show go up this year under this particular group of students.
Some of the students in the class do not participate as heavily in extracurricular activates, he added.
“To me, it looks like it has kind of become their thing, their little team of belonging,” DeCarlo said.
Lamb said he started covering the business and tech segment but more recently he has been working on world news. It has been interesting to learn more about what is going on in the world rather than just locally, he said.
“I have thought about doing film in the future because of the class,” Lamb said. “I have enjoyed reporting as well as I mostly enjoy the editing aspect of it.”
Alen Ibrahimovic, another student in the class, said Tuesday, Feb. 10 that he works largely on the sports section of the newscast. He said he covers football, the Olympics, soccer and other relevant sports. In a recent episode, he covered the Franklin boys and girls basketball games.
Ibrahimovic said that as the main cameraman, he has learned a lot about lighting and angles, helping him to realize his interest in working behind the camera.
DeCarlo has given the students a lot of freedom within the class, Ibrahimovic added.
“When I say freedom, I mean it in the best way possible too,” Ibrahimovic said. “(DeCarlo) lets us use our creativity and tell him our ideas, and he’ll give us his input and help us when we struggle with certain things. If this class was taught by any other teacher, I believe it would not be as fun for us or as entertaining for the viewers.”