By Jacqueline Foisy– Mount Clemens High School

Students and teachers at Mount Clemens High School are using technology in more unique and innovative ways than many people can even begin to imagine.  Mount Clemens High School is the home of Macomb Cable Network (MCN), and Macomb Cable Network is home to Bath City Beat. 

Bath City Beat is a student run news show that airs on the Local Access Cable channels in over 150,000 homes that span across three Michigan counties.  Executive Director John Kotarski, Senior Producer Patrick Linabury, Producer Darin Roberts, and Teacher Missina Ormsby guide the students.  Each school semester students at Mount Clements High School are able to compete for one of the five paid positions as Bath City Beat reporters. 

After students are selected, they are thrown into the Bath City Beat schedule.  Each week students are given community news assignments that they will report on.  Students contact people to set up interviews and then they head out into the community to research their stories, gather interviews and footage, and do some stand-up reporting for their story.  After this first step of the process is completed, students take all their materials back to MCN to capture all of their footage into computers and begin editing it into a news story using Adobe Premier 6.5. Students work for roughly one week to create a three to five minute news package on their given subjects.  After all the stories for the week are edited they are reviewed by producer Darin Roberts.  When all the stories have been completed and reviewed, the students shine on camera as they film seques that will host their show.  Once all footage is shot, Darin Roberts puts the finishing touches on the editing and the half hour long show is viewed by the public for the next week while the students prepare their next show.

These students from Mount Clemens High School are so good at using these technologies that their show is rapidly becoming more popular. In fact, Bath City Beat is so professional and entertaining that these students are not only learning top of the line 21^st century technology skills, but they are becoming famous.  Executive Director John Kotarski says, “We never thought we would have to be teaching these students how to deal with “Celebrity status”. One of the student reporters says, “It’s really incredible how much we know about television and the technology that goes along with it, and I never expected that being involved in this program would make my co-workers and I ‘famous’”. “We are beginning to be recognized and complemented everywhere we go, especially when the whole group of us is out in public together!”

If Bath City Beat is sparking your interest. . . contact your local cable station and request that they play it in your town.  You will be hooked so fast that you’ll no longer need “Action 7 News” or “The Power of 4”!

 

Jacqueline Foisy graduated at the top of her class at Mt.
Clemens High School in 2006 with honors and is currently
preparing to enter her sophomore year at Central Michigan
University as un undergraduate student double majoring in
Broadcast and Cinematic Arts and Integrative Public
Relations. She hopes to one day work as a reporter in the
television news industry, or possibly represent a company in
their public relations department. While working on her
endeavors Jacqueline remains in contact with her friends
from Bath City Beat, and holds the show dear to her heart,
as it was one of her main inspirations for the future.

Getting Hooked on Student News Show