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Riley Gray, Megan Bjeldanes and Ellie Schmidt arrive on set at 7:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning and immediately begin setting the stage with lights, cameras, chairs and computers. They work rapidly and effortlessly, taking time to chat about the woes of having such an early call time.
“When my mom woke me up today, I felt like I got two hours of sleep,” said Megan, who got up at 6:45.
But Megan isn’t a middle-aged woman living in her folks’ basement. These pint-sized TV producers are fifth graders and student body officials who run VGTV, Vista Grande Elementary’s weekly television program that highlights the latest and greatest in VG news.
“I wanted to have some type of communication with the staff and children,” said Principal Patricia Hansen, who helped start VGTV in 1995 after years at Pleasanton Middle School, which had a weekly live broadcast.
The program began with a dinky camera inside the school’s conference room and has since flourished into a professional production with full light and sound kits as well as high-definition cameras. Students rotate through the production’s seven positions — host, producer, camera and audio, VG Spotlight (a news-in-brief segment), Falcon Fitness (which highlights Danville sports), science and technology and an interview segment — and run the whole show, except the editing portion which is done by parent volunteers.
A typical Tuesday morning starts with a team meeting, followed by practice, blocking and, finally, filming. Students will often film segments after school hours, making VGTV an additional extracurricular activity.
“By putting these kids on camera, they’re getting a supercharged coaching session in verbal and non-verbal communication skills they can take into the real world,” said Leonard Nelson, a parent volunteer and professional video producer who spent 22 years in broadcasting.
Brady Martin, Vista Grande’s student body president and last week’s host, said he likes VGTV because it prepares students to talk to people professionally, putting specific focus on relinquishing forbidden words such as “like,” “um” and “so.”
“VGTV is a communication tool about the values of the school,” said Edie Sparks, VGTV’s director and senior associate dean at College of the Pacific. “We’re very deliberate about using a curricular approach so students will be conversant in different mediums of communication.”
One of the goals at VGTV is embedding the five C’s — communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, curiosity and citizenship — into all aspects of the show by encouraging students to work together to come up with new segment ideas and solve production problems.
At a February SRVUSD school board meeting, Los Cerros sixth grader Sierra Taylor spoke eloquently about her experience as part of VGTV.
“VGTV was my favorite activity at Vista Grande and it taught me many skills I will use for the rest of my life,” she said. “It taught me about leadership; VGTV students become role models for the rest of the school.”
In addition to their leadership roles inside the studio, VGTV students must be active student body officers, attend weekly meetings with the principal on Thursdays and, of course, be able to get up early on Tuesday mornings.
“I always thought (communication) and developing leaders in younger kids was important,” said Hansen. “I think leadership can be taught, the sooner we teach them the better they are.”
But it isn’t all hard work and no play. VGTV students get to take field trips to Cisco, the fire station (one VGTV-er got to interview the firefighter who delivered him) and interview people they wouldn’t otherwise talk to, such as a 100-year-old neighbor.
“I really like the interviews, I think the one I did today was the most fun because we got to learn what life was like in the early 1900s,” Brady said of the interview segment with his family friend, Evelyn Cleaver.
At the same school board meeting, board member Ken Mintz complimented the VGTV crew on their poise.
“It’s great to see…the impact it has on the whole school. I’m sure there are a lot of younger kids who look forward to having their turn,” he said.
Fourth graders run VGTV during the week that the fifth graders attend outdoor education classes in Marin and younger students are encouraged to be guests on the show. VGTV students are currently working on a way to get more students involved, which may include recruitment presentations to individual classes.
Aside from fame, glory, communication skills and leadership, parent volunteer Tustin Ellison said there is another practical reason for getting students involved in television production.
“As technology gets more prevalent, it will become more interactive,” said the former Contra Costa Times photographer. “These kids will have a leg up in high school where, instead of having to do a book report, they’ll have to do a video.”
For more information on VGTV, visit Vista Grande Elementary’s website and click play!
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Edie Sparks and Leonard Nelson run VGTV and begin each taping with a team meeting. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
The VGTV set. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Brady Martin. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Spencer Brown and Riley Grey rehearse the Falcon Fitness segment. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Maddie Wilson, Genevieve DeWait and Riley Gray practice the intro and outro for the science and technology segment, which was already “in the can.” Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Camera/audio director Megan Bjeldanes and producer Ellie Schmidt. Photo by Jessica Lipsky. -
Vista Grande Principal Patricia Hansen and Riley Gray. Photo by Jessica Lipsky.
