Working side by side, sophomore Lizzie Reid and senior Phoebe Laurencelle collaborated on the cheerleading video for the Fall Sports and Spirit Assembly. Laurencelle, an Advanced TV and Film (ATV) student, provided Reid, a Beginning TV (BTV) student, with information on how to use a camera and editing software that ATV students have more experience with.
In the past, students took Introduction to Broadcasting, then Beginning TV, and then finally Advanced TV and Film. This year, instead of having their own blocks, Beginning TV and Advanced TV have been integrated into single classes during the same blocks, TV Teacher Julie Benca said.
The change was made at the start of this year to accommodate class sizes, which fluctuate due to the nature of elective courses, Benca said. Because fewer students signed up to take BTV, it merged with ATV, Benca said. Last year, some ATV students were chosen to lead the combined classes, giving them the opportunity to spend the semester in small groups with BTV students to help them on their projects, Benca said.
“We pair BTV students with veteran ATV students so that they have a mentor to work with anåd don’t feel like they’re being put on this intimidating project by themselves,” Benca said. “They have someone who knows the ropes, who can help them along the way.”
Reid took the stacked TV and Film class last semester after having taken Introduction to Broadcasting. The more experienced ATV students in the room made the environment more comfortable for her.
“I really enjoyed the class because I didn’t have to figure out everything myself,” Reid said. “I had someone there to help me.”
Though the two classes occur simultaneously, they still have some separation within their curriculum, Benca said. The BTV students follow some of the ATV curriculum, but with additional seminars, group projects, and opportunities to learn basic skills needed for filming and editing, Benca said.
“The ATV leaders in the stacked class did seminars and presentations on editing and filming, which was one way to catch the new people up on skills and content that they may not know yet,” Benca said.
Junior Renzo Lopez is an ATV student and is excited to assist the BTV students because he finds mentoring BTV students very important for their learning, especially since the class requires using a lot of technology, Lopez said. Lopez enjoyed the first semester and is excited to continue mentoring while sharing his love for the class and community, Lopez added.
“We’re all friends in the TV community,” Lopez said. “We collaborate with each other and it feels like TV is one whole class as opposed to two different blocks.”