Students at Harrison High School always have had the freedom to be involved in anything their hearts desired, from running for student council to playing football to joining HoyaVision, a student-run class supervised by audio visual technology and film (AVFT) teacher Bill Phelps. Kids join HoyaVision to test the waters of the broadcast journalism world. Whether it’s being on the desk, talking on a podcast or working behind the camera, the class offers it all.
Junior Kate Kandul shares her story of how she got involved in the class and became the producer of the HoyaVision broadcast.
“I took AVFT my first year, and, eventually, I interviewed to be in broadcast,” she said. “I ultimately started off as a talent, and then Mr. Phelps asked me if I would be interested in applying for producer, and this is how I got where I am today. I learned from our past producer, and it just went up from there.”
Kate has most definitely come a long way in the three years she has been at Harrison. With the class being student-run, she knows what it feels like to have such a big leadership role.
“It is definitely a lot of responsibility on my part because I have so many people I have to make sure get their job done, and I have to make sure everything is set on the right dates and stuff like that,” she said. “Mr. Phelps obviously helps us in any way he can, but honestly, it’s all up to us to make it good. And to me, that seems to be very beneficial because that’s how it would be in the real world.”
The up-and-coming producer has many ideas in store for HoyaVision and is expecting to fill the role next year in her final year at Harrison.
Senior Jackson Bohannon, who works behind the camera and helps with the “Today in 10” podcast, said the students are mostly in control of the story ideas.
“It’s great that broadcast is student-run,” he said. “We really have the freedom to make whatever we want, however we want.”
He also said Phelps serves as a guide for the students in the broadcast class.
“Mr. Phelps has helped us a lot this semester,” he said. “What he does is give us the tools, connections and feedback, and we are able to just run with that, you know? That’s what I think is amazing.”
With this being Jackson’s last year, he plans to go all-out and do the best he can with editing and helping the “Today in 10” team reach its full potential.
“What I like most about this class is the amount of creative freedom we are given,” he said. “It’s an important way of letting people express their creative freedom, and I think it is a super good way of learning more about yourself because of the class being student-run.”
Few schools have a student-run class with as many resources and as much equipment as the students at Harrison. The broadcast students are most appreciative of the opportunities being offered to them. The team is very fortunate to have the creative freedom to run its own broadcast and make it possible for the whole school to see what these students can bring to the table.
– Aleea White is a junior at Harrison High School. She is taking yearbook and broadcast classes, works on the school podcast and plans to write for Hoya Headline News.
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