Throughout the halls of Potosi High School and Elementary School, familiar faces are displayed on the screens of TVs each week. Seniors Ryan Stoney and Isaiah Groom can be seen informing the building of this week’s sports coverage, school events, upcoming birthdays, and lunch menu in a weekly showcase called Chieftain News.
“Chieftain News is an opportunity for students to plan, storyboard, write, videotape, and edit their writing.” Mrs. Siegert, the Chieftain News advisor, describes. The school news program originated as an opportunity for students to produce the show in their free time. In the years following it was added to Mrs. Siegert’s junior English class, and is now a part of the Advanced Speech class curriculum. “It started in 2016,” Mrs. Siegert continued. “It started with students that were excited to interview and highlight fun aspects of Potosi High School.” The original cast included Andrew McKillip, Cy Siegert, and Jaydon Carbone. Since 2016, classes have continued to keep the Chieftain News tradition alive by filming episodes every week.
A weekly schedule is followed to ensure the timely posting of each segment. Monday includes news anchors Ryan and Isaiah reviewing their previous episode to see what they can improve in the next installment. On Tuesday, the boys begin work on the script. Wednesday, the news anchors finish work on scripts and begin filming. Thursday Is a filming day; junior Konnor Robbins captures segments. Ryan and Isaiah finish their news week with editing on Friday. Editing often takes 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
WeVideo is used to piece each clip together and add flashy transitions, titles, and music. Scripts and video segments include news, sports, feature stories, and interviews that “make Potosi High School the place to be”. Filming of every episode follows the same format; however, personality grows each week. Humor, costumes, and special segments are added to every episode to further entertain the audience. A glance in the brain health room, auditorium, or library would give any outsider an inside look at the crew's behind-the-scenes work.
A week’s worth of work has more outcomes than just the creation of a new episode. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the purpose of Chieftain News went from informing to uniting. Because of social distancing and quarantine rules, Potosi School District wasn’t as connected as it was used to being. With each installation of Chieftain News, however, Mrs. Siegert was finding that the building felt more linked. “It connected the whole building at a time when we were not feeling very connected. The elementary teachers would tell me how much they looked forward to the news shows.” The impact on the elementary school is also prevalent today. When asked what his favorite aspect of filming Chieftain News was, anchorman Ryan Stoney replied, “The influence we have on the elementary kids… they are always so excited to see us in [the library] filming.”
The weekly segment of Chieftain News has much more impact on the school than the main purpose of informing. Not only does it spread weekly information, but it also gives journalistic opportunities, unites both ends of the building, and inspires elementary children. “[They crew] are reliable,” Mrs. Siegert compliments. “They are very good interviewers, very natural, very conversational. I can see either one of them going into a journalism or a broadcasting career.” Write into the news channel with feature story ideas; you could be a part of the Chieftain News tradition!