Mark Shapiro, alumnus from the class of 1988 and former member of the Advanced TV (ATV) program and film crew, donated $10,000 in August 2025 to fund a large video screen for the TV studio, also referred to as the Alumni Video Wall, Principal Dr. Barbara Georges said.

Used to enhance the filming of various videos for the TV program, the Alumni Video Wall has been a crucial resource for advancing ATV’s production quality, Julie Benca, Television and Broadcasting Director, said. The screen allows ATV students to create realistic backgrounds for their videos while also expanding the special effects of each film project, Benca added.

“ATV uses the Alumni Video Wall to put any sort of image or graphic video on the screen behind the students being filmed,” Benca said. “The wall has been used for documentaries, short films, the Glenbrook South Report, and for all broadcasting classes.”

The Alumni Video Wall expands the abilities of what a normal green screen would be capable of, making editing significantly easier, Benca explained.

“The Alumni Video Wall is an incredible tool,” Benca said. “It allows students to make more complicated edits, instead of using a green screen where the background must be edited into the video.”

ATV classes have used the wall for projects submitted to a number of film festivals, such as the Midwest Media Educators Association (MMEA) and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), junior Teddy Kullman, ATV Technology Director, said.

“We work on in-class projects and submit them to festivals,” Kullman said. “Right now we’re working on a project that we will submit to the MMEA festival in May.”

Looking forward, ATV is making plans to use the Alumni Video Wall for filming different spring activities, Kullman shared.

“At the beginning of this year, we used the wall to make the Fall Sports video, which is for the all-school Fall Sports Assembly,” Kullman said. “The TV staff is looking forward to starting work on the Spring Sports and Spirit video using the wall.”