Students Get A Lesson In Broadcasting And Civics On C-Span Bus

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Students in two Northeast Mississippi schools had an opportunity to tour a state of the art, interactive mobile classroom.

It is part of a nationwide tour by the “C Span Bus.”

Most students didn’t know what to expect when they boarded the C Span Bus.

“When I first heard about C Span I thought it was a cell phone carrier, I really never had heard of C Span and didn’t know what it was,” said THS Senior Gatlin Farrar.

“Honestly, I didn’t know what C Span was,” said THS Senior Addy Parker Spees.

Once inside the 45 foot customized motor coach, they learned about the history of the nearly 40 year old channel.

This visit is part of C Span’s “50 Capitals Tour”.  Earlier in the day, the bus made a stop in Jackson, and the crew then  made their way to Tupelo, where students got a hands on look at the resources C Span offers, such as an extensive library, available to the public, with more than 237,000  hours of public affairs content.

For C Span, that’s part of the reason they’re taking the bus all across the US, to teach young people about the cable channel and also about how government works.

“We are not funded by the government, which makes us exactly be able to do what a non profit news organization should do, not get in the way, not tell people what to think , but show people what’s happening in the government so they can make up their own minds about it,” said Joel Bacon, of C-Span.

Broadcast Journalism students say they enjoyed seeing the hi tech motor coach, and taking quizzes to test their knowledge of civics.

“I think it’s really neat to get hands on practice with technology here and just to look at it in person, I think it’s really cool to have the opportunity to be shown this and how it’s used professionally throughout the broadcasting world.  I think it’s really neat for government classes as well as journalism and broadcasting classes to see what the future has in store for them,” Spees said.

The C Span Bus also made a stop at Tupelo Middle School, before heading to Memphis.   C-Span is funded by cable companies, and Tupelo is the home of Comcast.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of C Span’s Bus program.   The bus that visited THS is brand new.