Video Club

• SCHOOL: Barker High School

• ADVISER: Jeff Costello

• WHAT THEY’RE ABOUT: Putting morning annoucements on television

• THE SHOWS: “Morning Juice,” “Wake Up Barker,” “Barker Morning Show” and “Live at Five”





BARKER — Wake Up Barker!

That’s the title of the fifth grade morning announcements television show at Pratt Elementary School in the Barker School District. In fact, the morning announcements for the elementary school, the fifth graders, the middle school and the high school are all on television at Barker. To make that possible, a lot of work has to be done behind the scenes.

Enter the Barker Video Club, a group of students who do everything from technical work on the announcements shows to making videos of Barker events, to getting in front of the camera. The club will take students who are willing to do anything.

“It’s open to anyone who wants to be involved,” said club adviser Jeff Costello. “They basically sign up to do whatever they want. If they want to do behind the scenes stuff, they can do behind the scenes stuff. If they just want to stand in front of the camera, they can do that.”

Costello said a lot of the time, the “talent,” people who are in front of the camera, want to just be in front of the camera. That’s okay, he said, but they are encouraged to help out with the technical stuff too. The club does have a shortage of people who are willing to learn how to make the videos.

“We try and encourage them to understand how this stuff works,” he said. “And because of the fact you can’t have just two people doing all of the technical stuff. We need more people to get involved in that.”

For the elementary and fifth grade broadcasts, the students are rotated around as an announcer and camera operator. Fourth graders handle the elementary show, and fifth graders get their own because of their schedule Costello said. In the middle school enrichment multimedia classes, the announcements become a volunteer activity, giving students experience and responsibility working behind the scenes.

The morning announcements shows are called “Morning Juice” at the elementary school, “Barker Morning Show” at the middle school level and “Live at 5 to 8” at the high school level. Barker High School’s show starts at 7:55 a.m., hence the name.

The club is also beginning to shoot “remotes” during their daily live broadcasts. For example, the club had a camera and person ask a drama club member about an upcoming school musical. The interview was done on the school stage, and aired live on the morning announcements like a professional news show.

There was a remote done for “Barker Day,” the last Friday of the month, in March. On this day students were allowed to wear hats, and to promote it, they had a teacher continuously tell someone off camera to take theirs off. It was later revealed to be another teacher who said “but it’s Barker Day I can wear it.” Broadcasts may also feature an announcement from a character in a school musical, such as Lumiere the candlestick did at a broadcast in March from Barker’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.”

Megan Kieffer, a sophomore who also play field hockey for Costello, said she has been doing the announcements since fifth grade. She saw the older field hockey players working for the club, and it sparked her interest.

“I wanted to discover what it was,” she said. “So I just got caught up in it.”

Another student also said the club was something he enjoyed. Junior Davey Haseley said he has been with the club since fifth grade. He didn’t do it for awhile, but came back soon after in his freshman year.

“I just showed up and said hey what can I do,” said junior Davey Haseley. “I like to make videos. It’s something I can show, and take pride in myself.”

Both Kieffer and Haseley work behind the scenes for the fifth grade and elementary shows as part of the independent study, which means they are graded. Of course, their work, and the club’s, are seen by a lot more than just a teacher.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.