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Avella students provide an ‘Eagle Eye’

Celeste Van Kirk READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UP — Avella High School students Elonna Coontz, left, and Ella Lengauer read the news as Rafe Cooper runs the teleprompter.

AVELLA, Pa. — Hickory Telephone Co. is more than just telephones, Brian Jeffers said.

“It’s telephone, internet and cable — all fiber to the home,” said the firm’s chief executive officer.

The cable TV operation is steadfastly local — news, sports, events, announcements. That element of the company’s operation is known as Aurora by Hickory Telephone Co.

“We call it ‘Hometown TV,'” Jeffers said. “We hope to put on as much local content as we can. The focus is on community.”

A group of Avella Area High school students, and their media production teacher, are playing an integral role in that focus. A growing, changing role as well, as digital storytelling has become an integral part of the curriculum.

For nearly four years, Avella and Hickory Telephone have had a partnership whereby the students provide taped and live content for the cable broadcasts. About a dozen teenagers, under the tutelage of instructor Jesse Saunders, are doing so through their Media Production II class.

This class is made up of mostly of juniors and seniors, who learned the basics previously in Media Production I. (About 10 are currently in the introductory course.)

The more-seasoned news team works in a tight, but well-appointed computer room inside the junior/senior high school library, fine-tuning skills, cobbling together brief newscasts and work as a team called The Eagle Eye News – named, naturally, for the school mascot.

During class Wednesday morning, Ella Lengauer, a senior bound for Allegheny College, and freshman Elonna Coontz served as anchors as Rafe Cooper operated a teleprompter. They began the newscast with the Pledge of Allegiance, followed by announcements of school signups, sports results, upcoming games and other newsy bits.

One girl slipped over a word pronunciation, but no harm-no foul to the English language or her budding career. Avella students tape the news a day in advance, so this was a seamless do-over.

“It’s a nice thing that we tape,” Jeffers said. “If someone makes a mistake or laughs, we can redo it. The kids do look forward to the news bloopers we run.”

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