“Quiet on the set!”
What unfolded behind the rolling camera was a scene of controlled, and quiet, chaos as students scrambled to get the footage edited for one of the year’s final episodes of ETSN, a student news production under the tutelage of social studies teacher David Salzer at Edison High School. The class, titled “Civic Engagement through Media,” is technically a government course meant to illustrate the importance of First Amendment rights in the media and student speech. The curriculum gives students hands-on training on camera and sound equipment.
Students streamed in at the start of the hour and milled about while Salzer doled out assignments and positions for the day’s production. Everyone rotates around the different roles in the studio; a handful are picked to be the news anchors, camera and microphone operators, and director, while the rest work on editing the videos that will be cut in between the anchor segments filmed in class. While the anchors recorded introductions for the segment, in the corner of the classroom, Shelly and Soria put together clips and a soundtrack for their video report on the end of the year textbook return rules, one of this week’s breaking and more time-sensitive stories. Soria had to duck out of class briefly to fact-check the ultimate due date for textbooks, but she and her partner got their story in time.
Soria explained how the class’s process worked. They get their assignments a week ahead of time to get footage and interviews, and then edit everything in class while the anchors record introductions. Their stories are then put in between the anchor segments and posted on the school’s YouTube channel for viewing. They use iMovie to process their footage, and get extra points for complexity in their videos.
The class started last year, and shifted gears after its pilot year. Formerly, the subjects students reported on ranged from school news to more political coverage, while this year it focused more on news as it relates to Edison’s perspective, and debate forums.
There are a lot of different motivations for the kids in class. Some plan to go into the media after high school, while others just wanted to satisfy their social studies credit on their transcripts. Some liked being in front of the camera, while the technical productions appealed to others.
“I come here to be a better editor,” said Abdulahi, one of the day’s anchors after shooting was wrapped up. He has a gaming channel of his own where he posts video walk-throughs of popular video games. A class on video editing seemed like the perfect opportunity to hone his technical skills.
“It was an interesting class,” said Ximena, who was working on a sports story on the other end of the room from Shelly and Soria. “We know everything about what’s happening in school, and for some people, it’s going to be their profession.”
Ximena recently won an award from KARE-11 for a video she and her classmate Salah submitted for their #eyesup campaign against distracted driving. The campaign was a challenge to local schools to help reduce distracted driving by making public service announcement videos to be aired over KARE’s network. The ETSN videos were selected as finalists by KARE, and put up for vote alongside ten others for audiences to choose from. Ximena and Salah’s video won.
“I was hoping to get to the finalists, but I didn’t expect to win,” said Ximena.
Salah has another award under his belt: an Upper Midwest Emmy, earned for his general enthusiasm and helpfulness on the set of ETSN. Salzer nominated him for the AV Allstar award, an accreditation meant for students who are a technical asset to their production team.
“[Salah] frequently identifies a missing component and has on multiple occasions written, recorded a voice-over, and edited corresponding visuals to enhance the story…He is a continual reminder to his classmates and myself that our stories must include multiple perspectives and student voices. In doing so he has ensured that we have covered stories on all the student clubs, the arts, boys’ and girls’ athletics, the cafeteria staff, new teachers, counseling resources, and freshman experiences. Our coverage is broader and more intentional thanks to Salah and his leadership,” reads the recommendation on the Upper Midwest Emmys web page.
The awards were announced in March. Salah and his classmates attended the award ceremony at the Mall of America together.
“The best part of the night was seeing my dad smile,” said Salah, reflecting on the night of the awards ceremony, and everything he’s learned over the course of Salzer’s class. “The biggest take away for me personally would be never try to do an episode or a segment by yourself. You’ll always do better when you have help from other people. At first, when I was going into that classroom, I had this mindset that this was a class where I could gain experience for myself, and at the end of the day I did do that, but also I’ve learned the lesson that regardless of how hard you work…there’s always going to be someone who could improve your video.”
Salah moved to the U.S. from South Africa in 2016. He lived in Dallas for a few months before coming to Minneapolis. He has attended Edison for a year and a half, though he is a graduating senior this year and will attend St. Thomas University in the fall, where he will major in journalism. He doesn’t know exactly where his path will take him past college, but he has some lofty ambitions, including owning his own network someday.
“I know that’s huge,” he said. “I want to mainly be in the investigative side of journalism…As long as I’m doing what I love doing, and I also have a purpose and I’m also helping people in some way like that.”
ETSN also airs on television courtesy of the Minneapolis Telecommunications Network (MTN), hence its eligibility for an Emmy. MTN and ETSN have partnered for two years. Their relationship started out loosely in 2017, but gained steam with Salzer’s class. In addition to the weekly news production, Salzer brings two classes to MTN’s studio every quarter, giving them a chance to get their hands on the professional studio space and equipment to produce a more extensive debate forum show. After things worked out so well, they made the partnership even bigger for 2018.
“It’s awesome because it’s great content for us, and the kids seem to really, really enjoy it, and they do an amazing job,” said MTN executive director Val Lockhart. “The content is well thought out, their editing skills are great, it’s funny, it’s just cool. The whole thing is cool. Super kudos to David for running that class.”
Lockhart wants to expand the program MTN does with Edison to include more classes, and perhaps a more established line of funding. Salzer is working out a donation through Edison alumni to cover costs. MTN could branch out to create similar programs in other schools, too, but they would have to figure out a more official structure than exists now, since Salzer does most of the legwork. However, MTN does teach their own media production classes, previously reported in the Northeaster.
This fall, Salzer’s class will start again with a new lineup. All of ETSN’s news coverage can be found on Youtube at youtube.com/user/TommiesSalzer14/.
Below: Jaidan and Maimun directed anchors Catalina and Tommesha while Hailee operated the boom mic during a practice shot for one of ETSN’s year-end episodes. Shelly and Soria edited footage during class. (Photos by Alex Schlee) Salah won the AV Allstar award for his work on ETSN. (Provided photo)