Students present studio broadcast, invention convention and Chief Science Officer projects to board

Students from across the Whitehall-Coplay School District presented a series of curricular and extracurricular projects — a middle-school broadcast studio, invention-convention entries from elementary students, and a Chief Science Officer (CSO) action-plan summary — during the April 28 board meeting.

Middle school studio: Teachers Emily Pisco and Corey France, and studio students described a school studio that produces recorded morning announcements and special segments. The studio’s anchors produce weekly informational segments on lunches, activities and events, and the program includes directors, camera operators, teleprompter operators and editors. Student presenters said the program began late last year, visited the high-school studio to learn continuous filming practices, and participated in a journalism summit at Lehigh Carbon Community College. The students said they hope to expand production next year from once per cycle to twice per cycle and to improve technical capabilities.

Invention Convention: Steckel Elementary students presented an invention called the "food-sharing backpack," a solar-powered pack designed to keep shared meals hot, cold or fresh during emergency or community-sharing situations. A student presenter described it as "more than just a smart idea. It's a solution that helps fight hunger, protect the environment, and bring people together."

Chief Science Officer program: CSO students described an action plan to integrate STEM activities into family night and elementary stations. Presenters described hands-on stations using slime, Spheros, KEVA/KEVA-like blocks, Connex/Connect blocks and coding activities to demonstrate engineering and technology concepts to younger students. They said they plan to run two action plans next year to expand STEM outreach into elementary buildings.

Why it matters: The presentations highlighted classroom-based STEM, media literacy and student leadership work. The studio gives middle-school students experience in broadcasting, scripting and editing; the CSO and invention-convention activities bring STEM resources and demonstrations to elementary students.

Quotes: "The food sharing backpack is more than just a smart idea. It's a solution that helps fight hunger, protect the environment, and bring people together," Steckel student Catherine Bazeer told the board. Middle-school studio teacher Emily Pisco described the program timeline: "We started talking about that then... we met socially in August, and we decided how we would approach it... October 17, that was our first viral moment when our first video was shown." Students said the studio’s anchors now include information such as lunch menus, after-school activities and birthdays.

Next steps: Students asked for continued administrative and technical support to increase production frequency and to develop more segments and training; the board acknowledged the presentations during the recognitions portion of the meeting.