A four-student team from the Interactive Media Production program captured gold in the Broadcast News Production competition at the 40th annual SkillsUSA Maryland Leadership and Skills Conference held April 20, 2013. This is the first gold medal for the Robert D. Stethem Educational Center since chartering a SkillsUSA chapter in 2010. These students are now qualified to travel to Kansas City, Missouri, to represent Maryland in the SkillsUSA Broadcast News Production Contest at the National Skills and Leadership Conference in June 2013, along with their advisor, Mrs. Kimberly Clements.
In the Broadcast News Production competition students are evaluated on their broadcast writing ability, voice quality, diction, timing and pacing, and performance techniques. The competition also includes a written knowledge exam assessing newsroom terminology, ethics, scripting and on-air etiquette.
In the Broadcast News Production competition a team of four (4) students must plan & produce a live three (3) minute newscast with no breaks. One (1) student will be the team’s Technical Director (TD) position, one (1) student will be the team’s floor director/floor manager/stage manager position & the other two (2) students will serve as the on camera talent news anchor positions. The team is provided with approximately 20 pre-selected newswire stories. From the newswire stories provided, teams usually select approximately 5-10 stories to include in their 3-minute newscast. Each team has a limited time to select their stories, script them for their newscast, select the running order for their stories, fully build their show rundown and plan the technical direction for the show.
The Stethem Center team consisted of Kelly Dingess and Tashara Mitchell as news anchors, Doug Shelton as technical director and Alyson Hughes as floor manager. The team successfully wrote, produced and completed a three-minute newscast as if it were live at the Anne Arundel Community Television, Channel 98 Studio in Glen Burnie. The Stethem Center team has been preparing for this competition since last year when a disappointing score provided a challenge to compete again for the chance to represent the state at the national level and attend the National SkillsUSA Leadership Conference June 24-29. Kansas City, Missouri is the site for the 2013 national competition where more than 15,000 students, teachers and business partners will participate in the weeklong event.
Business partners play a vital role in honing skills taught in the classroom and applying those skills to real-world applications.
Kelly D
