For years, the student body has been provided with the essential information concerning different aspects of the school, from recaps of football games to reasons why politics are important for teenagers to consider and recognize. In terms of sports broadcasts, students can rely on NFHS Network to give live streams of games and other events. However, concerning nearly all other aspects of student life, including sports (via broadcasts), the Student Media department is the most relied upon for this information.
One thing that allows student media to work with efficiency is the amount of equipment that they have. Thanks to Greg Janda (the media’s publisher and adviser), equipment is of the modern age. While it may not be the most up to date, it’s new enough to provide the students with ways to get the best coverage of any event. Students also have access to the latest updates of editing softwares on their computers. Adobe Premier Pro, Audition, and Airtable are all tools that students use to organize, edit, and create content. Both Janda and Yearbook Advisor Kathy Beers have been incredible influences on the students and are important guides and motivators in the organization.
“They are really easy to talk to, and it’s great how much they [can] help us with our work,” said Features Editor for the Talon, Aleena Davis said. “I love being able to be creative and be able to write stories and take pictures and expand my mind.” Davis is also an editor for the Yearbook staff, so she has multiple areas of expertise.
Possibly the greatest aspect of the organization is its very name. They operate as their recently released draft staff manual states, “By students, for students.” And this means that although instructors are present to guide the process and give training where needed, the students themselves are the driving force behind almost all parts of the program. They broadcast the live shows the general student population see on Fridays during lunches and it is purely student created content displayed on the announcements. TCFM managers design the schedule for music and podcasts; student reporters have their stories published everyday on the Talon; and yearbook photographers capture the memories that many students want to store, taking pride in their high school years.
Being an entity such as the media, students operate as a team. Seldom is a news package or podcast recorded individually, and a story in Talon always goes through multiple pairs of eyes. Brook Boyer, the Editor-in-Chief of the Talon, is proud of the work that reporters put out, and the way that Student Media is able to function as its own entity.
“We’re like a machine,” Boyer said. “Always working to the best of our ability. Getting to know each other, [even] starting the school year off with a heavy workload, is pivotal to our success.”
A machine only functions if all its parts are working. With Student Media, the students themselves are the parts of the machine, each one essential to its ability to function properly.
“[It’s] everyone striving to work together to make good and essential content,” one of the Station Managers for TCTV, Greyson Love, said. “I enjoy being able to be creative in an environment that allows for both creative and constructive criticism.”