NHS' Best Kept Secret:
The Broadcast Department

 
October 2005
 
Tucked away in a seemingly-barren hallway of NHS is the broadcast department. Other areas of the school boast college level courses, but unbeknownst to a great number of NHS students is that the seemingly-barren hallway houses equipment that would make many colleges blush.

The Broadcast Department of NHS, which includes TV News, Radio, and their prerequisites (Broadcast I and II) is a department constantly overlooked, literately. Broadcast I and II are hard to find; on the scheduling sheet they're in the middle of the nearly two dozen English classes offered by NHS, and the Broadcast classroom is nestled in the afore-mentioned barren hallway.

To describe the Broadcast Department only one saying is needed: hands on. That's what Broadcast teacher Mr. David Legg believes is the one-man department's biggest strength. The students who leave broadcast classes are light years ahead of their college peers who are taking radio/TV classes for the first time.

Plus, the classes offer a role for everyone. It's a fact: America's biggest fear isn't death, its a fear of public speaking. But even if a student is uncomfortable in public speaking there are plenty of roles for him/her. The TV news program, The Cats' Eye that airs every day for Novi High School Students requires the expertise of at least 10 people- not counting those who appear in front of the camera.

The biggest misconception about Broadcasting is that it's a "blow off". There are a number of factors that contribute to this misconception and it doesn't help that the NCAA Clearinghouse, a program that all student-athletes who plan to play in college must submit to, doesn't count the classes as English courses.

But Broadcast is a class where the most essential English skills, writing and speaking, are used everyday. How can a DJ communicate a news story if he/she can't speak or write the story in an acceptable format? Are those who appear before the Cats' Eye cameras going to be happy with poorly written stories?

As a reward for the raised expectations of broadcasting class, students get to work with equipment that state-of-the-art. While the radio station is currently being renovated, the TV studio is equivalent to a small town local TV station, or a very good college station.

The glue to it all though is Mr. Legg. He forms a one-man department that is perhaps the most efficient in the school. In sports, they call them game-breakers or difference-makers. In teaching, they call teachers like Mr. Legg the teachers that you'll never forget.

If you're wondering where the glowing review of the department comes from, I've taken both Broadcast I and II and am currently enrolled in TV. I obviously am biased, but any students or parents who want to see a class that really gives the students a "real world" feel, should check out Mr. Legg's- errr the Broadcasting Department.