May 1, 2019 -- Heights High students in this year’s Television Club and Digital Video Production classes have had a unique opportunity to work with the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs. Teacher and club advisor Cynthia Booker sees the experience as “an extension of the classroom, one that allows students to see their work on a bigger stage.”

That bigger stage could possibly include being aired on PBS NewsHour, a television news program with over four million weekly viewers. The Student Reporting Labs program provides middle and high schools “with a unique video journalism curriculum, teacher professional development, mentorship and relationships with local public media stations,” according to their website. Students use provided prompts to produce original stories that explore how critical national issues impact their own community. The student productions are then reviewed and critiqued by professional producers, giving the students invaluable feedback.

Heights High’s Television Club used the “Opportunity in America” prompt to research, write and produce a news story about the Minority Student Achievement Network. MSAN works to understand and dismantle the practices, systems, and policies that uphold the achievement and opportunity gap between white students and students of color, both at Heights High and in schools across the country.  

Mrs. Booker, who was one of 30 educators from across the country to spend a week in Washington D.C. last summer learning how to implement the Student Reporting Lab, is thrilled that her students are getting this real world experience. “It's all about exposure. The more opportunities you can expose students to, the more they can see the possibilities.”

Her students are learning critical journalism skills but they’re also learning critical communication skills. And Mrs. Booker knows the impact those skills can have no matter what they end up doing with their lives. “I do have students who have expressed an interest in some form of digital video production. But I try to let them know that whatever field they choose, communication skills will always be a plus.”