Last week Highland High School Principal Kevin Murphy updated the school board about a new video announcement/news program that is being developed at the high school. This is targeted to replace the long-standing PA announcements.

“In the last few years we were trying to figure out the best ways to put this together, and it is something that we have up and running now,” Murphy said.

Teacher Adam Iannazzone said at the start of this school year they kicked this off once a week on Fridays.

“Just this week we upped it to twice a week with the eventual goal of doing this every day and just replace all of the announcements over the intercom with something a little more engaging and something that the students can access later during the day,” he said.

Iannazzone showed the school board clips from the very first show and the most recent one.

“You can see just in the last month and a half how far we’ve come,” he said.

On the first show, there were reminders to students to obtain a pass for the late bus and urged Sophomores and Juniors who have signed up for the PSAT in October to check their school accounts to make sure they have been added to the 2023 digital PSAT group.

The most recent show had several students handling the announcements, along with visual background changes, starting with the Pledge of Allegiance. Seniors were reminded to submit any portraits, baby photos or other photos to the yearbook staff by December 22; current weather conditions were announced by two additional students; seniors were informed that school counselors will be hosting a college application workshop after school in the library; a detailed sports update touched upon bowling trials and practice; the Interact Club will meet on Thursday at 2:10 p.m. in the auditorium and the lunch menu was announced. The students signed off with, “That’s all for today folks, have a great one. Go Huskies.”

Iannazzone said there has been a lot of collaboration on this project with Principal Murphy and with Richard Fisher in the tech department, who secured some new camera equipment.

“So we have a proper green screen, three cameras and the right microphones, and it’s really turned into a big production with a lot of opportunities for the students to learn new skills,” said Iannazzone.

Board member Mike Bakatsias asked, with all of this new equipment, “why is the sound not crisper?” Iannazzone said they are still figuring out the right settings for the microphones as they are still experiencing some “peaking” with them. He said they are also using Final Cut Pro X for their recording software, which allows them to import, edit, and process video footage, and output it to a wide variety of formats.

Iannazzone said they are currently working with the students during the sixth and eighth periods.

“We’re trying to alternate classes of who is doing the lead anchoring role, who is doing the weather, and we hope to start to incorporate some special interviews with staff and faculty and doing reports of what is going on in the community as we become more proficient with the skills,” he said.

Murphy pointed out that these are not live sessions but are recorded the day before they are aired, should edits need to be made. The entire news show typically runs about 3 to 4 minutes.

“The announcements take place every day at 8:30 a.m., and to replace the PA announcements, the staff simultaneously log on and play the announcements throughout the building,” he said.

The administrators and school board members applauded the presentation, calling the project, “awesome.”

The Southern Ulster Times conducted an interview with Highland graduate Scott MacFarlane, Class of 1994, who is currently a Congressional Correspondent with CBS News, based in Washington D.C. He said his long journey in Journalism started during his senior year at Highland when he did the morning announcements through a public address system; video was just a dream.

MacFarlane believes this burgeoning program at his Alma Mater will pay dividends in the future.

“I would have given anything for that opportunity when I was there,” he said. “It’s like weight lifting, you need muscle memory and reps for any type of professional auditory [for] public speaking, broadcasting, teaching, lecturing and homilies, you have to have some practice at it and the sooner you begin your practice, the quicker you can develop those skills and confidence in whatever walk of life you choose.”

MacFarlane said while at Highland he also had the opportunity of being on the scholastic academic team at a TV station in Kingston.

“It gave you a chance to play the game on camera in a studio that also gave you the experience with the lights, the stress and the cameras and delivering under pressure and that’s what really sparked it for me,” he said. “I figured this is one thing I’m confident in life and maybe I should do it.”

MacFarlane said high school gave him, “four good years of practice. It was a remarkably good experience just to be in a studio and have to deliver, not just hang out there, but actually perform under pressure.”

MacFarlane said what the high school is attempting to do with this new initiative is quite similar.

“It requires you to have a little pressure, a little step up and deliver and I think that helps you no matter where you’re going next. If you start at 17 you’ll be a lot better off in your 20s and 30s than if you start in your 20s and 30s,” he said.

MacFarlane said gaining experience in performing is going to help in any career pursuit. He said this program gives students the chance to be both artistic and creative, especially in journalism, “which is actually half art and half science. Yes, you have to do the factual questions, get them all right and tell the news of the day, but you have literary license on how you tell the story. It’s a beautiful profession where you can mix art and science and this is a chance for them to experience it.”

After graduating high school MacFarlane attended Syracuse University and then got his foot in the TV door in Michigan where he worked for five years. He then landed in Washington D.C where he has worked for nearly 20 years, usually covering Congress and governmental news, first with the Cox Media Group, then NBC and since 2021 with CBS News. Next year he expects to spend some time focusing on the members of Congress from New York.

“They’re the front line members who are going to be the most challenged people for their seats. They are really powerful down here, the Republicans from New York, and I’m going to spend more time next year covering, not just the Mid Hudson Valley, but the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island Republicans.”

MacFarlane said his formative high school years ‘unequivocally’ lead to his present career.

“It was pivotal, it was everything and the last 18 months of high school is when I figured out what I wanted to do and got the very first foundational steps,” he said, adding that he felt supported by the community when they listened to him on local radio. “That’s a very uniquely Highland thing and I found that valuable and affirming.”