FARMINGTON — Three digital media students are keeping the residents of Regional School Unit 9 informed about happenings of the school board.

Alex Haggan, 16, of Farmington, Ben Luchini, 18, of New Sharon and Samuel MacDonald, 17, of New Vineyard are live-streaming board meetings on the internet.

They are digital media students of Chris Davis at the Foster Career and Technical Education Center at the Mt. Blue Campus.

The students set up three cameras and microphones in the Forum at the campus, which also houses Mt. Blue High School, and feed into the control room of the digital media program.

Typically, Luchini and MacDonald operate the cameras while Haggan calls the shots from the control room.

“Because of the U shape that the board sits in it makes it difficult to get a good angle from one spot,” Davis said. “A single camera in the back covers the majority of the board, while the two side cameras enable to capture either side of the ‘U.'”

The students have filmed most of the budget and school board meetings since March. They are archived on the program’s site: livestream.com/FTCDigitalMedia.

When the renovation and addition at the campus was being considered, Davis said he asked that the Forum, gymnasium and auditorium be set up for digital media. That enabled them to receive video and audio.

Viewers watching the live-streamed meetings are seeing Haggan’s choice of camera angles. He can see all of the cameras and chooses the appropriate angles, Davis said.

The students have been trained how to operate the equipment, he said.

“The students gain experience in a multi-camera live event, which is as close to broadcast as we can achieve on campus,” he said.

Next year, they are considering a fourth station so people who are presenting to the board can be seen and heard better.

The students are getting the message out to the community, and it is a great opportunity for them, Davis said. They are paid for the work they do.

The opportunity for them to do this is unique, he said. They plan to do something in the field of communications after they graduate.

“The really neat part is these three young men have pretty much pushed this forward by themselves,” Davis said. “They are self-directed.”

There are plans to live-stream graduation, senior assembly, Foster center graduation and the June 1 budget vote.

“As the year progresses, we are trying to do more and more,” he said. He would like to do more with athletics next year. The hard part is getting compensation for the students interested in participating.

While Luchini graduates in June, MacDonald and Haggan are juniors and plan to keep the live-streaming going.

All three students enjoy what they are doing and are grateful for the opportunity. You don’t often get to use the skills like these in high school, they said.

And it is fun, Haggan said.

“It’s a practical application of what we learn in class and we earn money doing it,” MacDonald said.

It is challenging at times, Luchini said.

Some days, you have everybody on the board talking at once and sometimes people in the audience talk.

A lot of it is anticipating who is going to speak next, he said.

“You have to look for the hands,” Luchini said.

They also enjoy seeing how the school is being run.

When Haggan is in the control room, he is doing the job of three people: technical manager, director and audio.

“We all know how to do it,” MacDonald said, but they prefer Haggan calling the shots.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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