The Future...

I clearly remember my dad telling me when I was in college and I was way beyond the point at which I was to declare a major that I should always play it safe and have something to "fall back on". I was considering majoring in broadcasting or in print journalism, but Dad felt like I would have a better chance at finding a job as a Public Relations major. So, that's what I did. I now have a degree in public relations, but ended up working in broadcasting. Go figure.

I've always had a talent with writing. My true dream, however, has always to become a writer. Not just a writer who churns out novels in solitude day in and day out, but a writer who travels, lectures, gives workshops and enjoys friendships and adventure.

I have not had that life. I don't know if it's too late to have that life, but I've decided that I'm going to do everything I can to make me live the closest I can to that dream. I've tinkered with that life.....been published, given talks on writing, attended workshops, and...with you...I TEACH writing. I've dipped my toe in the waters, but haven't yet gone swimming.

Yet, every job I've had throughout my life has prepared me for the next one. I have to believe that if I hadn't gotten that degree in PR, I wouldn't know so much about media relations. If I hadn't known so much about media relations, I wouldn't have been offered the job at the TV station. And, if I hadn't had that job at the TV station, I wouldn't be teaching you broadcasting. So, all that said, I don't regret any of paths that my life has taken me down. I love my job as your teacher and I love you... each and every one of you, my students. You give me joy and laughter and are the reason I come to work every day. I'm blessed that this job found me.

So, as we approach the end of the street of this school year, I want to give you a little advice. Not just the seniors, but all of you. Never, ever, ever give up on your dreams. Make sure that everything you do in your career advances you to your ultimate purpose. Find and recognize that which is your gift and immerse yourself in it, develop it and fine tune it so you are the best. BUT.....be okay with the side roads that life takes you down. Everything you do is preparation for what you will ultimately become. Don't get frustrated that your career is not exactly as you'd like it right now, but realize that you'll get there -- more prepared and well-rounded than ever.

So, for the last blog of the year tell me: What is your passion? What are you great at? What skill do you hope to hone and get better at? What do you like to do? Travel? Help people? Make things? Organize things? Counsel people? Lead people? Tinker with machines? Fix things? How will you use your gift in the future in your career? Have you even figured out what your talent is or what you want to do? What path will life take you down?

Practice, Practice, Practice...

It's an old joke: "Pedestrian in New York asks a famous violinist, 'How do you get to Carnegie Hall?' The man replied, 'Practice, practice, practice!'"

The oft-used joke is steeped in truth. Steven King wrote about it in his 1999 book, On Writing. Although a lot of writing talent has to do with innate skill, he says, a large percentage of it has to do with the more your practice your craft, the better you become at it. And in academic circles it is believed that you have to practice something for 10,000 hours before you become an expert. That's 3 hours a day, every day, for 10 years.

One of the film editors of the original Star Wars film, Richard Chew began his career shooting film as a news camera man, shooting a one or two minutes piece on a daily basis. He talks about that when he give speeches about his craft and how he is always still learning. When he first sees the dailies on any given film he's working on he makes notes about what resonates with him and his emotional response. He uses that information to help him improve his craft as he completes it, especially since when you work on one thing for so long you begin to lose objectivity toward it.

He also says that when he's working on editing a film, he usually continues to edit on it until someone takes it away because of deadline; essentially stating that any work of art is never truly finished because you always want to make it better.

How much work do you put into perfecting your skill at, say, video journalism? Do you do the least amount you can do to get a grade and then let it go? Or, do you work on learning something new about the process each time you go through it? Do you read websites and articles about the craft of editing or photography? Do you read blogs about improving what you do? Do you try new things (special effects, new transitions, new format, etc.) each time you turn in a project? Do you get defensive when you see your grade or do you use the information to teach yourself how to get better? Do you keep an open mind about other peoples' suggestions, even though your knee-jerk reaction is to do it the same way you've been doing it, over and over and over again?

Let me put it to you this way: if teachers at South Cobb high school taught in the same manner as they did in the '70s or '80s, would that be okay with you? Would you be able to sit in your seat, day in and day out doing nothing but taking notes for an entire semester and be expected to learn the information? No talking, not much interaction, a LOT of reading, very little hands-on experiences, certainly no bathroom breaks. That's the way I learned, but why isn't that good now? The truth is that teaching, just like any other skill or field, evolves and changes the more we learn about what works and what doesn't. But if you're stuck in doing things the same way, every time, over and over again, are you really learning? I venture a guess that, NO, you're not. You're just repeating a task.

As we look around the room now, there are lots of new tools for us to use. Let me remind you of a belief of EVERY professional journalist out there; the tools do not make the editor/photographer/reporter/producer, etc., the ability to tell stories does. I've heard Les Rose from CBS and Steve Hartman say this. I've heard Al Tompkins from the Poynter Institute say this. I've read where Richard Chew has said this. I'VE said this. Hone your craft by practicing and trying new things. Don't just go through the motions. Learn the craft, don't just learn what the buttons do. Don't just complete the assignment to get a grade and be done with it, take in the whole experience of working on a project and enjoy the process. Learn something from it, and practice, practice, practice.

Nine Weeks Left

So, last week with a class of video production students minus the juniors and minus the seniors who felt as if they wouldn't miss any valid instructional time, the Eagle TV students did amazing work. We produced a full show which aired on Friday and began a new one, we learned 4 new tricks on Final Cut Pro and on Live Type, we worked on several senior video segments and we produced two complete 3-minute mini movies based on one sentence and did it in two days!

I'm impressed by what we can accomplish.

So, that's why from here on out (we have 9 weeks left) we are going to be busy doing our projects and doing them with style. Here's what we have on our plates:

Senior video segments. All of which are due on May 16th....

Blogs. We have 6 more. That's it.

2nd VO/SOT due March 31st (Thursday)

3rd VO/SOT due April 22nd

3rd and 4th Outside Projects due April 13th

3rd Pkg due on April 15th (9 school days from now)

Story Ideas due April 19th

Story Ideas due on May 4th

5th and 6th Outside Projects due on May 18th

and Project Presentations due on May 20th.

We still have to author and put together the senior DVD and we have to produce 7 Eagle TV shows (one per week) until the year can be completed in here.

Whew...now that I see it on paper, it's a lot. What is it you say? We don't have as much time as it seems?

Well, no. We miss the week of April 4-8 for spring break, Friday April 1st is the International Festival, so we lose that day. May 5th is End of Pathway Testing for those of you who have completed level 3 or higher in BVP or any career tech or business class, throw in End of Course testing in there, senior meetings and other events and it really boils down to about 7 weeks left....that's 35 days to get all of the above finished. That's it. Seventeen things in 7 weeks. That averages out to about turning something in about every 2-3 days. Well, your blogs and story ideas should be done at home and your outside projects will be done after school, but you get the idea about what kinds of deadlines we're under.

Oh, and that new control room....we have to find time to train on it using the new equipment. That will certainly take at least a week when it's installed and ready to use.

Keep in mind that grading on packages and VO/SOTS gets harder. I expect you to have a well-written script with outside sources, adequate statistics, well-shot video, good lighting and flawless audio. You don't have time to re-do it. Seriously. You must use a tripod, super your talent correctly and artistically, tell me something I didn't already know in your stories and appeal to a mass audience of primarily cynical teenagers whose attention is hard to get even when their shoes are being stepped on.

Yup. We have lots to do. Use your time wisely and don't waste it. Let me know in your comments how you plan to manage your time. How will you deal with hurdles that keep you from going in the edit room or editing because your video is too dark? How will you make sure those things don't happen? How will you make sure that every moment you spend in BVP is used wisely and not wasted?

The clock starts now.....

Mopping Up

As we head into the downhill part of the school year, I think it's important that we talk about things "that are left". Like what's left at the end of a shoot. When you do your stories, you don't just do the interview; you "mop up in the field."

This is a term I heard about from Dave Davis, Hillcrest High School video production teacher and I hope he doesn't mind me sharing this with you. It is what you do on your shoot to make sure you have mentally checked off those shots that are necessary for you to tell your story. It requires that you ask yourself some questions:

***Do I have my opening shot?

***Do I have my closing shot?

***Do I have all the shots that the interviewee referred to during the interview?

***Do I have reaction shots?

***Do I have a wide shot of the scene, establishing setting?

There are other shots that I could remind you of, but these are the basics.

Think about the things that indicate that a story is over. Maybe someone walking away from the camera, someone turning off a light switch, someone waving goodbye, or a slow zoom out and/or long shot of someone walking across a field. Visualize what type of shot would go best with your story and GET THAT SHOT! Keep your eye out for these shots to happen naturally and get it on tape. Don't stage it. Let it happen organically. You may not use it in the end when you're editing, but why not have it, just in case? You'll appreciate it when you're in the edit room.

Similarly, what about those opening shots. What visually brings people into your story? For example, if you're doing a story on kayaking, why not get NAT sound of someone saying "GO!" for a kayak competition? Or, if you're doing a story about a new restaurant, maybe a shot of someone unlocking the door and opening for business for the day? Many of these shots for your open require that you get to your shoot early. If you're doing a story on a meeting, you'll want to get there early enough to hear the moderator call the meeting to order or someone saying "Good morning". Think about the opening shots BEFORE you go on your shoot, not after.

Once you get used to thinking and visualizing your story before you even DO it, you'll start doing this without thinking of it. It will become second nature. But for now, take this list with you or at least create a shot sheet that includes the shots that you've thought through so you can best tell your story and "mop up" while you are out. And, speaking of that, clean up that edit room!

Describe the opening shot, closing shot, other B-roll that you envision getting to tell the story that you're currently working on. What will you keep your eye out for during your story? What would be the BEST shot that you would LOVE to get for your story?

No More Small Change

A friend of mine and I were talking last weekend and we were marveling at how much the world has changed in the last 15 years. Even countries that existed in our high school geography textbooks no longer exist under their old name, old regime or old cultures. Crazy! Whole countries re-writing their history!

No one, just a mere 15 years ago, could possibly have envisioned the hold that the internet has on everyone....let alone the concept of an online database that will allow you to find anyone, anything, anywhere, anyhow in the blink of an eye. Again...crazy!

It has only been a short time ago in my lifetime when black and white television had only 3 channels (Oh, the horror!). TV dinners, cars with cigarette lighters and ashtrays and the high beam button on the floor, no VCRs, phones with a rotary dial on them and the ability to call long distance ONLY with the help of an operator were all our way of life. If you wanted to look up something you didn't get online, you went to the library and looked it up in the World Almanac.

For the Japanese people, change happened in the blink of an eye. For Libya and Egypt, change has occurred in the matter of a few short months and things will never be the same for those living in Christchurch New Zealand after just a few short minutes.

In this class, I've preached the importance of leadership among you. I've asked several of you, individually to step up to the plate to help me set the bar high for behavior and excellence in production. I've asked that you take others under your wing to help, guide, assist, include and teach. I've told the entire class to be mature and a good example. I've asked that you not waste your time when you have all these tight deadlines and assignments. This is what I've gotten in return: (Read EVERY word here)

A day of flinging mouse pads around the room and leaving them on the floor in a spirited game of...I-don't-know-what, tapes (some without cases) strewn around the edit rooms, not put back as I ask, but laying around unlabled and uncovered...and when cornered about it, a disrespectful sentiment aimed at me comes flying out of your mouth. Disrespectful attitudes and words directed at me when I ask you to bring the equipment back on time, spend some time to label tapes, don't just TAKE equipment out of the room, be back on time, follow directions or put a little effort into your work. Doritos bags stuffed in the edit room drawers, video of sports events that look like they were shot by a 4-year-old, expecting to get credit for just going to an outside project and hanging out with the camera, but not actually operating it for a respectful amount of time, story idea deadlines missed, blog assignments missed, equipment not put back correctly and check out forms not filled out properly...scattered all over the equipment room. Disregard for proper framing techniques, proper audio, soundbites that don't advance your story or add to it in any way, packages that don't inform or even entertain. Not caring what your writing conveys or that you just skate through the course, barely getting by and no pride or work ethic in what you do. No innovative ideas for stories or excitement for the production value. No desire to learn anything new or put in a little extra work to sweeten audio. Scoffing at me when I tell you how it should be done properly or when I correct you or suggest a better, more efficient way to work. Procedures disobeyed such as turning in a script before you edit, coming in late to school with fast-food bag in hand and preceding to stuff it all into your mouth for the first 30 minutes of class, water bottles and drinks brought into the edit bays, leaving the room for the entire period so you can go talk to others, make up work for other classes, chat with your coach or hang with your friends, coming back just in time for clean up. Should I go on?

All this while I'm working my tail off to provide you a new control room, new cameras and new edit suites. This research takes time and I initiated this for you - I contacted the county, I contacted the vendor, I met with the integrator, I negotiated with our principal and I have pursued this change. All this while I'm teaching 3 full classes, maintaining equipment, sending it off for repairs so you would have the best to work with. All this while I'm defending you and your work to our principal, to our administrators and to the teachers who complain that you are loud and disruptive in the hall or walking around not doing anything, when I know you're not working to your full potential. All this while, despite my clear instructions to the contrary, you leave campus, continue to eat and drink around the equipment, leave unlabeled tapes scattered around the room and food particles on the floor and continue to snap your teeth at me with disregard.

I've given you the chance to do the right thing; to change your behavior or to step up to the plate. I've changed deadlines and changed expectations. I've received nothing in return. SOME of you have recognized that Eagle TV is falling into a hole and have tried to resuscitate it by coming up with unique story ideas or have meekly respected my requests for change or tried to step up only to be met with your peers snide comments and sneers.

Well now, I'm changing what we do. I'm also telling you that it has been an incredibly challenging year for me and I'm also ready for a change. Things will NOT be the same. You won't have the same freedoms, you won't be disrespectful of me and my efforts to teach you and we won't be allowed to challenge me without consequences. You won't have the freedom to pursue the stories you want, I will determine how the finished product looks and feels and I will monitor your every move. You will need to sign out every time you leave the room for ANY reason and tell me where you will be and how long you plan to be gone. You will fill out daily work habit forms and will be asked to reflect on whether you used your time wisely or not. Every day will be very structured.

I was hoping that this year would turn out to be the year of positive change. New equipment, new ideas, new stories and new approaches to stories. You know, a transition year where we've gotten excited about what Eagle TV can be. I'm sad that this hasn't happened. I'm also sad that this year has changed the way I look at you, this program and this school. I'm incredibly discouraged and don't feel any optimism that you can change on your own..you know, take control of your own ability to rise to the challenge that is put before you. These are not small changes, but big ones. Small change is no longer an option.

Your thoughts?

Deliver the Package!

Storytelling is an ancient practice. It is probably one of the first ways humans developed socially, sharing knowledge with emotion and perspective. It is also one of the basic tenets of a newscast. The self-contained story (one that doesn't need any explanation or setting up before you see it) is called a "package" in the news business. I want to share with you a little about how a package is put together.

First of all, remember that news is about PEOPLE, not things. If you have a story about a new 10K road race that will be happening in Atlanta in the fall, tell me about it through the eyes and experience of a young man who was told he could never walk and is now training for this race. If you want to do a story on the potential loss of accreditation by the Atlanta Public Schools, have a student tell the story of how his family came to Atlanta to get a better education than he would've gotten in the third-world country he came from and how this would be devastating to him. Do you see how this works?

Once you come up with your idea, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself before you dive headlong into production. First, is there a PERSON I know that I could tell the story through; someone who is involved in this story or who has an investment in the outcome? If the answer is "yes" then start interviewing! If the answer is IDK, then see if you can find such a person. If you're doing the road race story, call the organizers of the road race or a related organization such as the Atlanta Track Club. Organizations are GREAT resources to find people involved in the story that you want to do. They are more than willing to help because they want publicity for their "cause". Just about EVERY story you do will have a related organization that could help you, you just have to take the time to do research and don't be afraid to call these people.

Second question: can you tell both sides of the story? Every story has two sides. In the case of the road race you have the determined runner who has beaten all odds and then, perhaps you have the doctor's who said that he's never walk and they are blown away by his progress, or you have, maybe, the young man's mom who is supportive, but feels like he's bitten off more than he can chew.

Then, ask yourself, what are my visuals? What elements do I need to shoot aside from the basic interviews? Can I shoot the race itself? What about the race route as it's being marked off? What about b-roll of the race organization office as they process applications? Volunteers? The young man at home, putting on shoes to go out for a conditioning run? Him playing with his dog? (unrelated to the race, but good cover footage to show his regular life) Low angle shot of his tennis shoes as they pound the pavement past the camera? What about pictures of him as a boy and his injury? Crowds cheering the runners? ETC. Hopefully, you get the idea. Shoot more than you need. Did you hear me???? SHOOT MORE THAN YOU NEED.

Fourth question....do I have NAT SOUND that I can get related to my story? In this case, YES! Why not mic the young man as he's running and get him slightly out of breath as he works out? Sounds of his shoes hitting the pavement, crowd noises during the race, etc.

Fifth question....can I visualize how I want to open this story, develop it, incorporate the race organizers, how I want to lead the viewer along in my story (in other words, do I hold information about the young man's challenges until later in the story when the viewers have gotten to know him and then surprise the viewers with this?) Or maybe I want to introduce the race first and then say that there is a very special participant this year.

Sixth question...who are my "experts" that I will interview to give my story credibility? Race organizers, orthopedic doctors, occupational therapists, etc. You must have these to give your story credibility. If your entire story is all about opinion...you haven't produced a package, you've produced an opinion poll. There is very little substance to this. You haven't taught me anything new or showed me something that I didn't know already.

Next, do I have statistics, facts, history or other information on the story? How many races are in the Atlanta area? Why is this one new and what do race organizers hope to make this one different from all the others? How many people in Atlanta are members of the Atlanta Track Club OR what is the estimate of Atlantans who are serious runners? What is the prognosis of walking, let alone RUNNING, for someone who has an injury like your guy? Can you take me through the part of his life when he didn't think he'd ever be able to walk? What has he gone through in the last few years to get where he is now. (for this one, don't just tell me, show me.) See what I'm getting at? Your news packages are little research projects - you have to do your homework.

Finally, what happens now? What is the future for the news issue? In your case, what is the future for the young man? Can you show me that he's developed a relationship with the race organizers and now, maybe, he's been asked by them to be one of the race spokesmen? What is his next goal? What does his mom and his doctor's think now?

See...simple. (yeah, right!) But really it is. You're just telling us a story....an amazing story, but a story nonetheless. You just have to do a lot of legwork before you're finished. I bet your runner did a lot of legwork to get where he is today, right? Bad joke. Sorry.

Develop your story here: tell me the answers to all of these questions I've posed to you and show me in your comment that you've thought about how your pkg will be developed. This may take a little thought. You may want to write down your blog response on paper before you write it here so you are thorough. Tell me about this amazing project you're working on and tell me how it's going to blow everything else away on Eagle TV by telling me how you've thought about all these questions. Tell me your story!

Because we are starting on story creating this week, I'm re-posting a blog from September of last year. It's still timely and informative and gives you a pretty good idea about how to come up with story ideas and how to pose them to me, including the research you'll need to put in your package.

Story ideas. Where do we get them? How do we convince others that we have a good story worth doing? How do we keep our audience interested in the story we are telling?

It all starts with a good story idea that is well-written, has a distinct angle, good characters, relevant to our audience, compelling visuals, well-researched and newsworthy.

The reason we turn in story ideas is because I want you to begin to think in terms of a reporter, producer or photographer about what makes a story worthy of your time and research. I also want you to become better writers and researchers as well as being a good journalist. You have to be able to incorporate numerous pieces of data yet filter out the irrelevant information to focus your stories. That's hard. So, let me tell you what I'll look for when I grade story ideas.

Start out by looking around for something that's interesting to you. Look at local news in papers, newscasts, magazines and radio. Look at bulletin boards, newsletters or subjects that you and your peers are talking about. As your parents what's going on or look on the internet news websites.

If it is a national story, you must localize it, or determine an angle that's relevant to your audience. Your audience would be teenagers in the metro Atlanta area as well as adults (parents and educators) who might see your story on Eagle TV or on Cobb EdTV.

Do research. Do you have information that supports your angle? Are there enough visual possibilities to make it TV-friendly? Are there local experts that are available for you to interview about it? And most importantly, can you tell the story through the eyes, or experience, of someone who has been there?

Once you've done these first few steps, you are ready to write your proposal. The elements that need to be in your proposal are: a statement of what story type it is, a summary, how will you tell the story, who are your potential characters, elements to include in the story and any background information or statistics.

Here's my idea....I recently saw on the TV news the results of a recent study that says that teenagers are physically incapable of waking up early because of their body clocks and a later start time for schools is being pushed in some states. So I did some internet research:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/teens-health/CC00019

The Story Idea Summary part of your proposal begins, "this is a story about..." and explains what makes the story relevant or newsworthy? Why would your audience want to see it? This is your "elevator pitch".

This is a story about a new study that says teenagers are biologically incapable of being alert during the early start times of middle and high school. Some people believe that later start times would decrease absenteeism and increase grades.

Telling the Story. Describe how you'll open the story, what you'll go to next and how you will end it. Tell us who we will be meeting and why they are important.

I will open the story by talking about the role sleep plays in our life then spotlighting a student who has had incredible difficulty with staying awake for his early classes over the last few semesters (not just one semester to rule out a problem subject matter) perhaps even find someone who has had sleep studies done. I will then go into the study and other statistics about sleep patterns and teenagers. I will then revisit the student at the end of the story with his solution to sleep deprivation.

Potential Characters. List the characters in their order of importance to your story. Who are the people you want to interview or what kind of people do you want to interview? What role do they play in your story?

I will interview, of course, a student or students who have trouble staying awake in the mornings, parents of those students who can talk about their son or daughter's sleep habits (and maybe frustrations with teacher calls!) and sleep experts from a local sleep study center. I may also talk to a teacher or two. I know a student named Jason who has had a very difficult time in his first block classes over the last few years. Perhaps he would be willing to talk about his experiences.

Elements. This is for you to describe any visuals or pictures that will be part of your story. Very important! How do you plan to cover your story outside of interveiws? There must be pictures or video! Warning...you don't want to "stage" your video!

I will get video (and permission to use it) from a sleep study center and possibly use some of the video of people sleeping, I'll get alarm clock videos, unmade beds, students attentive in class and some with their heads on their desks. Footage of class changes and teachers teaching in class, maybe students drinking coffee or caffeinated soda to stay awake.

Additional Background. This is for statistics and background information that supports why your story is newsworthy. this is NOT copied and pasted research. It is information that indicates that you've done your research and drawn your own conclusions about how it relates to your story and angle. It shows that you understand and care about your story and how it can be relevant to your audience. It could also be background information on your characters who are in your story. It is information that you may use in your story, but not necessarily. his shows me that you've at least done some preliminary research and that you have evidence to support that this is a valuable story and not just piles of data.

According to the Mayo clinic website, our internal clock guides when we feel sleepy or awake. They are called our circadian rhythms. As a young person, our circadian rhythms signal us to get sleepy around 8 or 9pm. As we approach our teenage years, that internal clock doesn't make us tired until about 11pm or midnight. Because studies reveals that teens need at least 9 hours of sleep to feel alert during the daytime, early morning start times for school make that difficult. Countries as far away as Isreal are looking at this data and are beginning to take note by changing school start times in hopes that teens will succeed more in school. The Sleep for Science research highlights why teens are challenged by an early school start.

Lastly, make sure that you attach any supporting materials to your story idea. Print out websites or cut out articles of your sources. Remember that if you quote statistics in your story, you must attribute them to the proper source.

Your question this week, therefore, is what story ideas do you have that you might like to produce? Come up with some good ones and tell me why they are important and who you would interview and what kind of supporting material/statistics you would use.

That White Stuff!

There's nothing like a good couple of snow days to wipe the extraneous and non-essential off our To-Do list and bring us back to basics. Without the ability to leave the house unless on foot and not many stores open, we are forced to focus on just the necessary needs we might have.

The basics. It helps us focus on meaning and purpose. Do I have enough food in the house to keep me fed until I can get to the store? If we lose power, will I have enough firewood to warm the house? I don't really need that new shirt because I have everything I need in my closet and I can't get to the mall anyway. Are the pets safe and warm? Am I safe and warm?

Each hour that you spend in the house you make meaningful because you invest it with your energy, your intentions, your capital, your decisiveness. There are no distractions. You make meaning to the time you spend with yourself and your family and friends because you are forced to live with just the basics for a few days.

How we live our life with intention should be the path we choose ALL the time and not just when we have a few snow days. Think about school in this way. Don't clutter your life with the non-essential. The drama. The unimportant.

Another aspect to this snow day break includes the ability to be a kid for a minute. I got a chance to sled down the hill in front of my house with a piece of cardboard wrapped inside a trash bag. I'm sure you made a snowman, snow angel, did some sledding, had a snowball fight with your family or friends or at least enjoyed traipsing through the snow up to your ankles.

It is my hope that while we will do lots of hard work in Eagle TV this semester, eliminating the unimportant, that we will have lots of fun while we're at it. We will experience some things that we've never done before and will pave the way for our viewers, down a path that they've never been down before. We will be pioneers and, through Eagle TV, will lead our viewers into adventure. Maybe we'll do a story on zip lines in north Georgia, maybe we'll show SCHS about the gorilla rescue sanctuary, maybe we'll feature a man who teaches young people how to climb trees in order to overcome fear and adversity, maybe we'll show our school a story about someone who has overcome unbelievable odds to follow their dreams, maybe we'll be able to show that Everybody Has A Story.

Eliminate the extraneous and start thinking about how you can use your personal power to showcase greatness. You have the power. Start thinking like a journalist. Show us some amazing stories!

Tell me about how you're excited about your role in Eagle TV. What kind of stories are you interested in featuring? How has this snow storm allowed you to focus on what's important? How can you combine fun and business with Eagle TV?

****Please use full sentences, proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and put some thought into your answer. I want at least 4-5 sentences that make sense. This is a writing assignment, remember!**** Also, make sure you sign your post so you can get credit.