SCHOOLS: Students exceed expectations with Warrior Daily News

From the dull bulletins read over the intercom system to the vibrant, student-run news stream, Wasilla High School takes it up a notch when it comes to the morning announcements. Digital media teacher John Notestine works side by side with his class along with the Warrior Word journalists to produce award-winning content.

The digital media and journalism class of Wasilla High School team up every morning to create a live news broadcast, The Warrior Daily News. Instead of the muffled overhead announcements heard through an intercom, students and teachers now see and hear about what exactly is happening around the school in real time.

“A lot of teachers noticed that our students just weren’t very engaged with the daily announcements. It was something that was just going on in the background. Everybody was listening to it, but no one was really listening,” Mr. Notestine said.

Throughout the year, Wasilla High School and the digital media class have tested multiple live streaming programs. Through trial and error, the Warrior Daily News chose a suitable program. “We now use Live Stream, and our district went ahead and bought a Live Stream account, not just for our school. It’s open to all schools in the district. Right now Colony, Wasilla, and Mat-Su Tech are making use of the account,” Mr. Notestine said.

What started as an idea is now a reality for Wasilla High School. “It took a couple of weeks. We’ve planned on doing it and kind of just rolled with it,” Mr. Notestine said while he overlooked a tri-caster and made sure that the teleprompter was ready for the morning.

Each morning, media and journalism students gather early in Room 126, the digital media room, and take their places to run the news live. Notestine makes students in charge of writing the rundown, running the teleprompter, audio, and anchoring. The rundown is a software program that works in conjunction with the teleprompter.

Behind the scenes, Warrior Word journalist Kindall Rumbo reviews the staff generated Google form for updated announcements. From there, she writes the leads read on the Daily News. Rumbo also writes revised headlines for repeated bulletins. All of the writing saves on Rundown. And, behind that scene, either Mr. Notestine or journalism teacher Emily Forstner double check for accuracy before the 7 a.m. deadline.

Thousands of dollars secured through Cal Perkins grants and the generosity of the district helped to make this a state of the art media studio. But, money is always an issue, so the News is now working to sell sponsorships in three different packages. A company can reach anywhere from 1000 teens a day to over 9000 borough wide to even worldwide exposure with live streamed events.

The digital media class provides both the equipment necessary for a news broadcast. Tri-casters allow for recognition of the three cameras in place. A Bluetooth headset lets Mr. Notestine and crew communicate with the news anchors situated in front of the green screen in a semi-sound proof room. A teleprompter projects the projects the script for the anchors, as well as provide an ideal environment for broadcasting.

“We have a window that separates the room in two. I really wanted to have my technical crew in the back where they are able to talk and work on things, while we have the announcers separated by glass,” Mr. Notestine explained. “This room is also an inside room meaning there’s no windows to the outside, so you’re not getting other ambient sound.”

“What impresses me the most of being behind the scenes is how much is actually going on during one broadcast. We have one person on the teleprompter one person on mics one person on tri-caster, so it really is a big production to put on a high school news broadcast,” senior anchor Nick Gross said.

Considering how much one team of high school students takes on, the occasional complication is destined to occur.

“We’ve had numerous problems; it’s all just trial by fire really. Sometimes they’re quick fixes sometimes we just have to go with it. But we try our best to fix it while it’s going,” digital media student Dakota Hunter said.

Although The Warrior Daily News is fairly new to Wasilla High, the live stream has received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback.

“We [The Warrior Daily News] are going be the feature story in a national publication called School Video News in their May edition. It’s actually a publication I use in my class quite a bit… I’m able to go out and see what other schools are doing because we’re always trying to get better,” Notestine said.

“Notestine is our fearless leader who comes up with weird things for us to do on the broadcast and makes it a lot more interesting but still professional at the same time,” Gross said. Notestine attended the ASTE (Alaska Science and Technology in Education) conference in February, leaving students to run the Daily News without the help of their “fearless leader.” Nonetheless, students took to their places and successfully broadcasted the morning announcements by themselves.

“I stopped by to check on something else, and there they were, independent like any adult, live streaming the morning news,” Mrs. Forstner said. “Tre McKay was handling the tri-caster, Skyler Morgan was on the teleprompter, and the anchors were in suit coats and ready. It was like a dream come true.”

On March 23, the Daily News competed in the SkillsUSA competition held in Anchorage. A team of four produced a three minute broadcast news with a 30 second ad for BPA. Also, during the competition they worked in teams of two to produce a three minute movie on an assigned topic and criteria.

The Warrior Daily News has the capability of being completely student run in the future. Students from digital media and the journalism class work together to form a team dedicated to informing the public.

“I think we can do a lot with this; the sky’s the limit,” Notestine said.