The School of Communication hallways were buzzing with excitement and new energy as 15 high schoolers from Hartford’s Impact Academy school spent the day immersing themselves on a tour of the TV and podcast studios and learning more about community journalism. The session hosted by the digital media and journalism program at the School of Communication to educate and create awareness about the importance of practicing responsible local and community journalism was the focus of this visit.
The highlight of the morning was a tour of the TV studio, where students learned more about the careers in news broadcasting and journalism. This session was hosted by members of the Student Television Network (STN), UHart’s student-run TV broadcasting news organization. In the studio, excited high schoolers had an opportunity to sit at the anchor’s desk and watch themselves through the camera’s lens. This was followed by a peek into the studio’s control room where the students got to experience the behind-the-scenes activities typical for TV news programming.
The tour concluded with a short demo of the School of Communication’s podcast studio where the students learned more about the state-of-the-art audio production equipment such as professional headsets and microphones mounted on adjustable desks and the soundproof recording space that is designed to produce high-quality audio and podcasting programming.
Impact Academy is a CREC Magnet school program built on positive youth development. It was created in the Fall of 2017 for CREC high school students interested in an opportunity to do high school differently than in the traditional setting.