Bringing Broadcasting Back to Jenks

By: Lily Heritage

Lights, camera, action! If that line excites you, you’re in for a treat. The Freshman Academy has a new broadcasting class open to grades 9-12. The class focuses on creating video content for JHS, such as video announcements that students would watch during advisory once a week. The Trojan Torch talked to Katy Sanderlin, the teacher for this new class, to get a better understanding of what the new course is all about. 

“We’re kind of making our own news channel,” Sanderlin says. “We want to do segments where we show off our students, teachers and our faculty.”

Sanderlin elaborated that she’s hoping her class will be focused more on the journalistic side of things, but still integrating some fun, Buzzfeed-esque, segments. She’s hoping to teach her students a variety of practical skills that they can use later on down the line.

“People just think of whoever is speaking on camera, like that’s all there is, and that is very important, but it’s also a lot of technology,” Sanderlin explains. “I think it’s so cool to learn how to use all the cameras, and all the video editing equipment, and how to package it in a way that people want to watch. We’re going to be using some marketing and graphic design in class, too.”

The skills learned in this course are important and useful, but that’s not the only appeal to Sanderlin’s class. She’s hoping to make a creative environment for her students. Her class is going to be all project based, and it’s going to be mostly student led. 

“Older students can take on those leadership roles,” Sanderlin says, encouraging students outside of the FA to take the class as well. 

If you’re interested in taking this course, please contact Katy Sanderlin at katy.sanderlin@jenksps.org. You can join for second semester this year, or put it on your requested courses for next year. The class does require an application to join, which is available on the Jenks website.