Youth in Focus

By Richard A. Ross

	TRR photo by Richard A. Ross DVE-News/TV reporters (counterclockwise) Bryan Hunt, Jessica Van Orden, Ryan Quinn and Heather Kanet (standing), work on a read-through of their stories just before airtime. (Click for larger image)

Lights, camera,
action

MATAMORAS, PA—It is said that “imitation is the greatest form of flattery.”

That could explain why there have been rumored attempts by some area schools to emulate the marvelous enterprise known as DVE-News/TV. This hands-on journalistic experience is part of every fifth grader’s life at Delaware Valley Elementary School.

To be a part of it, children arrive at school a full hour early to prepare the daily show for its 15-minute airing.

DVE-News/TV got its start in 1991 after Principal Sonya Cole visited the Pearl S. Buck School in Bucks County. There, students were reading morning announcements over the intercom. Cole envisioned adapting and expanding on this idea to a generation of visual learners by establishing a morning closed-circuit TV show accessible to every student.

This required an enormous investment of energy and resources. Cole had the entire school wired over the Christmas holiday in 1991 and a TV that was connected to the network placed in each classroom. She set up a studio in the library where the show could be aired. Computers were purchased for word processing and Internet access. All that was needed was to find the right person who could become what Cole refers to as “the heart and soul” of the program. That person was teacher Sharon Siegel. Siegel has been at the epicenter of DVE-News/TV ever since.

Tireless, enthusiastic and ever-mindful of the great learning potential, Siegel has exposed hundreds of kids to one of their most memorable and defining school experiences.

Children who participate gain confidence by learning to speak in public. The nature of reporting on world events familiarizes them with names of leaders, countries, geography, history and current events. To compose their news stories, they first learn to find and gather information and then to write copy in their own words. They are schooled in the rules of attributing information to actual sources and not “copying stories,” a.k.a. plagiarizing.

A team of ten or eleven students produces the daily show. There are a total of six different news teams. Each team takes its turn in a six-day rotation. In addition, the domains of news, features, sports, weather and school events are rotated within each team so that students gets a chance to work on every part of the show.

Interviewing people is also part of the mix. The walls of the newsroom are filled with signed photos of famous people to whom the students have written. A number of these people have also been interviewed.

While some students might be apprehensive at first, most discover that they are more capable than they ever imagined. Parents and people in the community get a chance to catch up on the full week’s worth of shows by watching channel Tri-23 in Port Jervis on Wednesday evenings. The show has been featured in K-8 Magazine and has had visits from NBC-TV news and Real TV from California.

Thanks to Siegel and co-coaches Carol Navitsky and Betty Lemac, the show never misses a beat. Unquestionably, some of the students who have had this opportunity will eventually go on to careers that hearken back to this real-life learning experience. Meanwhile, right here in the present, this week’s New/TV kids in focus are busy getting the story and delivering it live, with expression and force.