Four seniors at Columbus Bishop Watterson High School recently began producing weekly news videos to keep the school community informed and connected.
The videos, which run several minutes in length, are posted to YouTube and Instagram and cover such topics as highlights from Watterson sports, brief teacher interviews and reminders of upcoming events such as a blood drive.
Colleen Mar, Watterson’s director of communications and marketing, is present with the students early Monday morning when they shoot the videos. Social studies teacher John Wallace, who is the student council adviser, also attends the 7 a.m. sessions along with his toddler-age son.
“Michael is usually here (even earlier) setting up the equipment,” Mar said, referring to senior Michael DeLuccia, who produces the videos. “(He) has tremendous technical skills for this kind of thing, and he was all about doing this.”
DeLuccia, who also works as the audio engineer at Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School among other production jobs, was excited to take on producing the news videos, thanks to his passion for shooting and editing video.
“I really like filming,” he said. “We did this one (video of) the eighth graders’ visit here and we were filming for that all day, so I didn’t have to go to class. I really enjoy walking around and getting different shots and I like just moving along with that vision of the final (product) that I see in my head.”
The idea for the news videos originally came from senior Katie Carson, who aspires to be a news anchor as a career.
“She proposed doing a weekly news program,” Mar said, “and so (Wallace) and I sat down (with her) and we talked about what that might look like and how that would work. (Katie) ended up pulling in (DeLuccia, who) I knew had all the technical skills to help.”
Asked about her motivation for starting the videos, Carson said, “I wanted to give a voice to the students at Bishop Watterson. I love sharing stories and that’s kind of how (it) started. I’ve always loved researching and (telling) stories and giving a voice to the unheard.”
Carson, who is also president of student council, serves as anchor in the production, with seniors Mack Murnane as co-anchor and Griffin Steinbrunner as sports reporter. Mar has been consistently impressed by the dedication and work ethic of all the students.
“You know, it’s great to have a big idea, but then when you start getting into the details, that’s where the work comes in, but they’ve been great,” she said. “They’ve really learned a lot from this.”
In preparation for the Monday morning shoots, Steinbrunner finds and documents all of the Watterson athletic events and scores from that weekend and the previous week, and Carson writes the script.
“We (all) discuss it,” she said. “We have a little group chat, so I’ll be like, ‘Hey guys, can I get some help?’ or ‘Do you have any ideas?’ We all … work together and come up with a plan together.”
In regard to where the ideas for their topics come from, Carson said they research to see if there’s anything big happening in the community that deserves coverage.
Additionally, she said, “we have a Google form that requests that students share what they want to hear, so if they have a suggestion for our story of the week, they can share that with me so I can take it into consideration. We also have a section for students to share what they’ve accomplished, like we just had a senior write his own song and it’s airing on all major streaming platforms, so that’s something we wanted to recognize.”
Mar believes greater connectedness and school spirit are some of the benefits the news videos have brought to the student body.
“They’re promoting things … for the entire school,” she said, referencing a video from the Advent season in which Watterson students were encouraged to sign up for the prayer app Hallow. She said the news video team “jumped on the opportunity to have on one of the theology teachers (explain and promote) it.”
“I have to applaud all of the consistency and the work and the openness to learn that this crew has had,” Mar said. “They just have an enthusiasm for this and they’ve put the work in and made it a unique and fun thing.”
The videos can be viewed on the Instagram handle @BWHSnation, or YouTube via the Bishop Watterson High School channel.