Video: Itawamba County Schools Keep Area Informed With Student Newscast

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FULTON, Miss. (WCBI) – High Schoolers in one local county are learning about the latest in audio visual technology, while also helping faculty recruit other students for career and technical classes.

Once a week, high school students from Itawamba County gather in the Career and Technical Center’s Digital Media Lab.

They record “Itawamba School News.” The program features news and announcements from schools throughout the county.

“I like that you get to work in a team together and pull together an informational newscast that’s going to help everybody across the county,” said Niesha Luckett, who is a sophomore at Itawamba Agricultural High School and serves as lead reporter for ISN. She works with a team of 15 or so students. They videotape each segment in front of a green screen, then put it all together using video editing software.

This week, the ISN team reaches a milestone, as they will produce the 100th episode.

“You are part of history, you’re part of a big group of people that have worked so hard to bring news to different parts of the schools, and it’s magnificent,” Luckett said.

It is posted on a YouTube account and a special website. Along with keeping people informed about events throughout the school district, ISN has also helped counselor Britney Martin recruit students for classes at the Career and Technical Center.

“When I go into schools, I go all over, and I talk specifically with ninth and tenth graders, some of them may not choose the class, because just seeing a picture doesn’t really put into play what a class or program offers, so seeing the video, seeing recruitment and seeing what digital media does for the class, that gives them a little bit of a better idea of what we offer here and lets them see more of what they can do here,” Martin said.

ISN team members get to work where they are most comfortable, either in front of the camera, or behind it. Whatever role they play, they’re learning valuable skills that they can use after high school and college.

Most of the equipment for ISN was paid for by various grants from the Mississippi Department of Education. If you would like to see the newscast, go to www.itawambaschoolnews.com