By TAMI QUIGLEY Staff writer
Lights, camera, action! Not words you typically hear in school, but you do at St. Ann School, Emmaus, where Bishop Alfred Schlert blessed the new media center April 20 after celebrating a morning Mass with the school community.
Thanks to an extremely generous donation, 26 new flat-screen televisions were purchased, along with all the technical equipment needed for the students to produce a live broadcast in the media center, housed in the school library.
Every morning, eighth-grade students organize and produce a live broadcast segment that includes morning prayers, school news, local weather, school sports, daily lunch menu and “Word of the Day.”
“My hope is that the new media center will provide our students with the opportunity to work collaboratively, problem-solve and engage in a hands-on learning experience while working through the creative process to produce a broadcast that benefits our school community,” said Principal Diana Kile.
“Students are learning together and learning to problem-solve.”
Kile extended a special thank-you to Tom Gunkel and his wife Robin for their dedication to St. Ann School, helping to make the dream of a media center come true. Gunkel set up the equipment and trained the students.
Kile also thanked librarian Holly Heydorn “who works with students every day with the announcements and news they need so they have them when they go on camera.”
“It’s great to be here after Mass to bless this new media center,” said Bishop Schlert.
“May God … enlighten our minds so we may know more deeply and always work to spread his truth and peace,” Bishop Schlert prayed during the blessing.
Assisting the Bishop with the blessing were Monsignor Edward Coyle, pastor of St. Ann Church, and Deacon Peter Schutzler of St. Ann.
Kile said the eighth-grade news team broadcasts news through the whole school, and sometimes interviews students in other grades who have won awards.
Jack Freemont and Samantha Loeper sit at the WSAS (St. Ann School) newsdesk each day to deliver the news. A plaque of St. Gabriel, patron saint of broadcasting, sits on the desk. The duo began broadcasting Dec. 20, 2017.
“It’s fun and we learn a lot,” Loeper said.
And broadcasting “really helps your organizational skills. You have to get things ready in a short amount of time,” Freemont said of the morning broadcast.
Items such as birthdays and the weather are shown throughout the day.
The rest of the broadcasting team is Allison Carr, who rotates doing the announcements and leading the pledge of allegiance; Jacob Demchak, technical person; Annabelle Penchishen, announcements; Gabriella Rutch, who does the announcements and sometimes leads the pledge of allegiance; Aidan Tarafas, who leads the pledge of allegiance and sometimes does the announcements; and Nina Tormann, camera person.
Eighth-grader Ursula Kuehne was presented with the Citizenship Award during the Mass for winning the Citizenship Essay Contest sponsored by the Knights of Columbus St. Ann’s Council #12886. Kuehne received a plaque and monetary award. Fred Flemming, Grand Knight of the council, presented the award.
