Every two weeks, students at Highland Schools are greeted by those words coming from the Highland News. The program, crafted by students in James Higdon’s Media Production course, serves as a snapshot of life for those in the hallways of the district. In preparation for each episode, students participate in a random drawing that places them in groups that host the show in front of the camera, film, edit and more. Once groups are chosen, they begin to formulate ideas for stories that will populate the next episode. These pieces can fall in any of three categories: Student life, academics, and activities. In the episode recently featured on Monday’s JJ Nichting Company In Touch Southeast Iowa Program these stories included student reviews of ISASP standardized testing, a man-on-the-street style cross section of students and faculty talking about what they are currently reading and a season preview for the Huskies golf teams. KCII News recently joined the class to talk about the amount of work that goes into producing an episode and what they have learned in the class, “Mr. Higdon recommended that we build a script basically. I was nervous definitely for the first episode but through time you kind of just get used to working together and being able to edit on the computer. Just getting used to the process. We have class every-other-day, it’s an hour and a half long class and it takes all of that two weeks to finish an episode. It takes all of that time, but like on this episode, our story was only two minutes. It may just be a six minute episode but you have to watch it multiple times to make sure it’s good. It’s a long process. I’m grateful when we do get longer interviews. It’s easier to cut down a piece than it is to extend it. I have gained an interest into the editing process. We have made progress. Our shots are more dynamic. In episode seven we are doing picture-in-picture stories. We are having film outside of what we filmed on the I-Pad into the episode. I would encourage kids to take a class like this. It’s kind of fun to have a class that’s not based around a text book and expresses creativity.”

Higdon also spoke about the progress he has seen students make over the course of the semester. “The number one thing I see is confidence level. Everyone’s confidence is up. There are people in the class who did not want to be on camera at all who have become confident in-front of the camera. Their willingness to explore new things. Try new edits. Try new ideas. The kids are digging deeper into story ideas which is really nice too.”

You can hear the latest episode of the Highland News and a full interview with members of the class on the April 25th and 26th JJ Nichting Company In Touch With Southeast Iowa programs in the podcast section of KCIIradio.com, and find the latest episode posted every two weeks on the Highland Secondary School’s Facebook Page.