Journalism Students Attend TV News Broadcasting Video Conference
By Matt Barling
November 11, 2007
On November 6th, Mrs. Hapgood’s Journalism I classes attended a video conference with Steve Hayslip and Amy Rao, two television journalist out of Nashville, Tennessee. Six schools from all over the United States attended the conference, set up through Vanderbilt University, using the power of technology.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Steve Hayslip told students about his career as an anchor/reporter for a local Nashville station, Channel 5, and the places he has been able to travel because of his job. Amy Rao, a Tampa, Florida native, informed students about her job as an investigative reporter and showed examples of how to report on touchy subjects and how to ask good questions.
Both were able to show examples of some of there stories that were aired at one time. This gave students the opportunity to see how a good reporter comes up with his or her material and reports it to the world.
Once the presenters finished, they opened the floor to questions form the students. Some questions asked about their daily routine. Other students asked the reporters if they were a part of their high school journalism class. To the crowd’s amazement, neither participated in a journalism class in high school.
After attending her first video conference, Sarah Hallstein stated that the whole experience was very cool and she enjoyed hearing someone that actually worked in the field of journalism talk about what their job entails. Aaron Frazier commented that the session stared off slightly slow, but once the reporters began their discussions and showed examples of their work, it became very interesting.
Now Mrs. Hapgood’s students can go back to class and use some of the information they learned and apply it to publishing The Torch. This year they only have one goal in mind, and that is success.
