Spartan Edition Students working hard to make an incredible show. photo by Emanuel Morales-Gomez
Diving behind the scenes of the Thomas Jefferson High School news station.
In the CCT hallway of Thomas Jefferson High School, periods one and two are action packed with bustling students working on creating an impressive news show for the rest of the school. In the Spartan Edition class, primarily junior students work hard every morning to create a full news show, shown to the entire school later in the day. Each class works different roles to ensure students get caught up on current events, local news, school and professional sports, school events, and so much more.
Every role in the Spartan Edition is dependent on each other. Communicating and getting daily work in on time is crucial to making a good show. Each person contributes something new to the show each week and every week there are new jobs, allowing each student to experience new roles with different people and make new connections. There are new opportunities every week to grow and learn different skills in video making. These skills can help students in Spartan Edition to be more creative and succeed in their other classes too.
Second period Spartan Edition student and junior, Jackson Schneider, mentioned, “Being able to actually use creativity and that can help with other writing classes.” Schneider went on to explain how the Spartan Edition has allowed him to be more creative and that he can use this skill in writing classes, “I can add my own little touch.” Using this creativity helps with writing and learning other skills. The Spartan Edition has seen juniors come and go and every class has their own unique twist to how they make the show. Adding a sort of a signature to their show gives every class something to hold onto. Another Spartan Edition student and junior, Jesus Flores-Sanchez, chimed in with skills he’s learned, “Time management…before the class I was a bigger procrastinator than I am right now.” The class can also help with the skill of time management as students must decide when to work on weekly assignments. In addition to making the show, each week students are assigned a video assignment due the next week. This makes this class not only fun, but it also gives students a creative outlet and prepares them for college.
The process of making the Spartan Edition makes the class very unique. It is a class where students can have a bit more freedom and fun with what they do each day. There are no tests and no studying, it’s a time to be creative and have fun making the show. Students love the class and the freedom that comes with it, as it allows students to be themselves and make decisions about the final production, while still learning how to interact and work with a team. This class sets up students for success in the workforce, even if students don’t want to go into film production. The environment and the class is fun and free while still teaching crucial life skills, the class teaches students how to edit, produce, and to communicate with a team.
Teamwork is a big part of the Spartan Edition as everyone works together to make sure that there is a great show every day. Schneider talks about the inner workings of the class and the team aspect, “Everybody is assigned a position and they get that position done by the end of class so our senior producers can edit it and put the show up for us, so it’s a team effort.” Working as a team in this class is vital. If one job is not completed the show may be affected negatively and it may not be the quality that the students want.
The Spartan Edition class is a coveted one at Thomas Jefferson High School and an experience that incoming juniors and seniors find meaningful. Learning important skills throughout the year while still being in a creative and fun environment allows for a great news show made for students by students every day.
