THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) — A broadcasting program at Thomas County Central High School is helping students build experience and discover new opportunities.
- The AVTF program has nearly 185 students and teaches hands-on skills like filming, editing, anchoring, audio production, and live broadcasting.
- Students produce a daily newscast, run a radio tailgate show, and use industry-level equipment to build college-ready portfolios.
- Teachers say the program is expanding access in a rural community while working to keep up with rapidly changing technology.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Being able to film, produce, anchor, and go live.
That's what students at Thomas County Central say their broadcast program is giving them.
I'm Layan Abu Tarboush, your Thomasville neighborhood reporter, and I'm taking you inside how a program in a rural town is building skills that can take students anywhere.
It's called the AVTF program: Audio, Video, Technology and Film.
And this space looks nothing like a typical classroom.
The lab spans more than 3,000 square feet, with separate rooms for editing, audio recording, radio production, and a full studio where students produce their own news show.
I sat down with Kristy Faucett, the broadcasting teacher inside the radio room, to better understand what really goes on here.
"So we have our radio room, which is used primarily during football season to do our tailgate show interviews, where students are actually going and finding people in the community, people inside the school, to interview to highlight for all of our community members who like to listen to the tailgate show before each of our football games," said Faucett.
And it doesn't stop here.
Just down the hall is the control room and studio, where students produce a daily 10-minute newscast called Jacket Nation News.
It takes anchors on camera and several students behind the scenes running audio, video, and graphics to make each show happen.
"For most bigger schools there is a portfolio requirement, which is basically where we will compile our best work that we have done so far and use that as our application for college. We have everything in this classroom at our disposal. We have over 20 Canons. We have Panasonic, Sonys. We have audio recording systems," said Harrell.
Ashe Harrell, now a senior, says being part of the program for three years is worth it if broadcasting is something you truly want to pursue.
"Once you apply yourself and really push yourself in this program, you can take yourself anywhere. I mean, I've had colleges as far as California reach out to me, wanting me to apply for their film programs because of work that I've done," said Harrell.
And Ashe, along with over 180 other students currently in the program, is following a path alumni from this program have already taken.
"So it's always a proud teacher moment when my kids send me a picture, and they're on a film set and they're like, 'Hey, I'm able to do this because you taught us about this one time in AVTF class,'" said Faucett.
Faucett says keeping up with technology is the biggest challenge, and the program hopes to add more animation and storyboarding in the future.
In Thomasville, Layan Abu Tarboush, ABC27.
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