By Rachel Lau
Social Media Editor Each day the morning announcements are shown in period four. While the student body just sees a group of people on TV sharing information and character, they don’t quite know what really goes on behind the scenes. This year many Red Lion Seniors will be graduating which means the studio will be looking for new stars to be on air, along with the people who prepare the entire show, and work behind scenes. “We do have a lot of seniors,” adviser Mr. Ben Smith said. “They will leave a strong legacy.” Senior Ian Adler started working in the TV Studio during his sophomore year. His interest in participating in the show began in his freshman year when he first saw the announcements. Mrs. Carol Kelkis was the teacher that pointed him towards the studio after he started taking Journalism 1. Many students have gotten to know Ian because he instantly became a star on air and then started making a lot of video content for the show. He was asked if he would miss being involved in the studio and he said “totes magotes.” His favorite memory was when he did his first look-a-like with Mr. Smith and Gru from Despicable Me and his favorite part is “the quality of the people and the show itself.” Senior Robyn Blevins has been in the studio for two years now. The advisers call her the “manager” because she’s in charge of several things and prepares the morning announcements. She got involved into the TV studio since she took TV classes when attending Dallastown. “My favorite part would be yelling at people,” Blevins said. Even though she’s graduating she said, “I’ll still come and help out at football games and help in the press box.” Senior Ben Wesley has been a part of the crew for about three years. He wasn’t always in the spotlight because he came from being homeschooled since second grade, to going to Red Lion in his sophomore year. When he began going up to the studio he started out working on the technical side of it and then got the chance to be on air and stuck to it. He said the best part would be “being recognized around the school.” After graduating he will attend Millersville for Computer Science but also participate in the show that they put on too. “My favorite memories would have to be seeing everyone, hanging out with them, being on air, and talking to my friend, Red Lion,” said Wesley. “The whole thing has been a great memory.” They will need people to be able to do some prep work and learn how to roll cameras. Seniors Mark Peters, Billy Jackson, and Charlie Flaharty work with Sophomore Derek Etter and Senior Dominic Vano and adviser Mrs. Carol Kelkis to go over scripts. Junior Paige Gartland is working on teleprompters. If you are interested in having a career in directing, you can come up and be in charge of video, audio, teleprompters, and cueing. Students don’t have to have a specific job either, and the advisers recommend that they pitch in wherever help is needed. If you want to get to know how the TV studio works and want to be a part of the team stop by and let one of the advisers, including Mr. Smith, Mrs. Kelkis, and Mr. Blanteno, know.
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By Julia Adams Staff Writer As the school year continues to kick off, new methods of completing assignments have arisen, most notably Google Classroom. Google Classroom is an educational app that allows teachers to assign work to students via Google. Many teachers have begun to use this application since its launch in 2014. Biology teacher Mr. Todd Barshinger is one of the teachers around the school who uses Google Classroom as part of curriculum. “I like the distribution to the students,” Mr. Barshinger said. “It’s great that they each get an individual copy and can turn it in as they finish.” This helps teachers to easily see when a student turns assignment in on time, as it will be marked late if it’s turned in pass a certain deadline. “They put all the assignments up so you know what all you have to do and you turn it in,” Junior Sam Howard said. “He (Mr. Smith) puts all the stuff up online and I can go back whenever I want and that’s helpful.” In some aspects, Google Classroom has been viewed as a positive, new way that students can learn in school. However, as with many other apps, there are still a few drawbacks that come with the application. “I don’t like that you can’t send assignments as a group,” Mr. Barshinger said. “It would be nice if that was different.” Students are also frustrated with the the lack of uniformity when it comes to using the program. “I kind of don’t like how some classes do use it and some don’t, only because I have to go back and forth,” Howard said. “So I think they should all use it or all just not use it.” Other discrepancies include students not having internet access at home and having to squeeze in the completion of assignments during class time. While there are both pros and cons to using Google Classroom, many courses are beginning to incorporate the app into their curriculum. By Ian Adler Multimedia Editor The rainbow spinning wheel has been showing up on computers in classrooms throughout the high school this school year. With technology issues in the classrooms, district officials have been responding to each case, hoping to make technology use efficient and useful. The future looks bright for technology here at Red Lion, although there are guaranteed to be speed bumps along the way. “Our goal is to bring teachers and students the best customer service possible,” Supervisor of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Mr. Eric Wilson said. The district experiences login bugs, network errors and even an occasional internet outage. “There were a lot of wireless devices added to the district over the past year and moved to different parts of the buildings where wireless coverage was not increased,” District Network Manager Dustin Boyd said in an email interview. This overload of traffic on wireless hotspots appears to be the culprit of the slow internet speeds. It’s no secret that the school is going to need to increase its arsenal of wireless hotspots. “We are constantly monitoring the wireless coverage and adding devices where they are needed. Currently, we are looking at doing a complete wireless assessment over the summer to make sure these issues are resolved for the following school year,” Boyd said. The technology department also received multiple requests for individuals not being able to log into the macbook carts. This seems to be a mix of wireless coverage and the version of OSX the macbooks are running. “We are returning some of the carts back to the older version of OSX that have less issues with network connectivity,” Boyd said. “This is a fairly time consuming process so we cannot do all the carts at one time, but we are working on resolving the issue.” As far as the internet outages go, “There are multiple points from the source to the school where the internet can fail. It all depends on the different situations,” Wilson said. Some classrooms have trouble connecting to the server, having better luck on some days than others. The wireless internet rarely has totally shut down all across the high school, rendering online work impossible. “We don’t have control over most of the things that could go wrong.” Wilson said. Turnover in the Tech. Staff. Mr. Jared Mader, who left the district in 2013, was the director of technology and he oversaw the network and also educational technology, according to Wilson. Currently, the district technology staff consists of several different people. “Currently, Dustin Boyd, Network Manager, focuses on hardware, and I focus on educational technology, so we work together to fill the position,” Wilson said. Between the departure of Mr. Mader and the appointment of Mr. Wilson, Global Data Consultants provided network services, according to Wilson. At the end of January, several students weighed in about their experiences with technology in the high school. “I know a lot of kids experience trouble with it, but I really don’t,” junior Jen Owrutsky said. “I think it’s been a really big help with everything in class.” “I think it’s better in some classrooms than others,” Owrutsky said. “We use the computers in physics for a variety of activities,” junior Grant Fickes said. However, “There are pop-ups everyday and sometimes the applications run quite slow. The internet usage is somewhat spotty at times.” “The internet goes down at least once a week,” Senior Ben Logan said. “It’s just hard to do stuff on technology at school.” With the growing dependence on technology in this day and age, Red Lion has, and plans to continue to, expand its use of technology. “At this point in time we’ve had a lot of professional development opportunities for teachers to learn how to use technology services and incorporate it into their classrooms,” Wilson said. “Since early November, we have been working to make sure that we have a face for our tech staff for the different buildings.” He wants to have the best support for the students and staff by having two dedicated technology support staff members making the system run smoothly, including Mr. George Leitheiser and Mrs. Amanda Stikeleather. “Mrs. Stikeleather and Mr. Leithiser will be the only staff working here (the high school) so people can develop a relationship with them. Our tech staff is awesome, they’re very knowledgeable and they work very hard,” Wilson said. It seems impossible to fight the growth and dependence on technology not only in the classroom, but also everyday life. With the right understanding, Red Lion as a whole can really look forward to their experiences with technology in the future. As for addressing long-term concerns, the district plans to make careful plans for the future. “We prefer to take the time to make the right decision instead of a quick decision,” Wilson said. By Autumn McLearnon
Staff Writer Its been one of the best views in York County Football for years. The top of the stands at Horn Field majestically peers over the valley, overlooking lush green hills, burnt orange and fiery yellow trees, and crystal blue sky. Nature’s technicolor. In the fall of 2014, the technicolor got technical with the addition of a video scoreboard on the football field adding a splash of color and live action to the view from the stands. Spectators now see live action, video replays, advertisements, and graphics when viewing the game. At an estimated cost of $201,948, the videoboard not only brings a new element to spectating at Horn Field, but it brings opportunities for journalism and multimedia students at the high school. “In the TV studio we stress, giving the students an authentic experience. We want them to have a good idea of what a real life experience outside of high school would be like,” said Mr. Blackwell. Becoming familiar with the equipment used in the broadcasting industry is important to the advisors involved, according to Mr. Blackwell. Some of the new equipment includes a Tricaster 40 which helps play videos on the scoreboard. Red Lion High School even has four students at every home game that are on Horn Field video recording the game from different angles. The video shots are then replayed on a monitor called a Three-Play in the press box above Horn Field. A 3-play allows a student to watch the games from all four angles on the field. Once a good play is recorded, the student then is able to send it to the tricaster 40 to be replayed on the scoreboard. |
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