Program puts NKC students in broadcast booth

On a beautiful fall day above a sprawling green football field, two announcers sit poised to broadcast the touchdowns, passes and fumbles of the day’s game.

Moments before the players take the field, the announcers pore through pages of research and notes they’ve compiled about the teams that will face off that day. They look like seasoned professionals — and if not for the high school logos on their T-shirts, one might not even know that these announcers are high school students themselves.

Ali Harb and Micah Daniels are both part of an advanced broadcasting course that joins students from all four of the North Kansas City School District high schools to broadcast sporting events. Students who take the broadcast course will work all 18 of the district’s home football games this fall before turning their attention to basketball later this year.

When game time arrives, students operate cameras, broadcast replays, give play-by-play accounts and produce the overall broadcast on the student-named Northland Network, or N2.

“It’s like a dream come true for me,” said Daniels, a junior at Staley High School.

While Harb and Daniels said announcing the game live can be a challenge, they said they’ve drawn on their own experience playing football for Staley High School when developing their commentary.

“It gives us a lot more confidence to know what we are talking about,” said Harb, a senior.

This is the first year for the program, which is a partnership between the school district and Niles Media Group. Niles provides an instructor to help train students about many of the technical aspects of live broadcasting. It also supplies some of the equipment.

“It is a very good opportunity,” said John Sprugel, a partner at Niles. “Our industry, both the sports marketing industry and the sports production industry, is in dire need of a lot of well qualified people, and so this is an opportunity for students at the high school level to get this experience.”

Sprugel said the company also has partnered with the Liberty Public Schools for five years to offer a similar but more expanded broadcast and sports marketing program.

Although the program at the North Kansas City School District may be new, Christina Geabhart, the district’s journalism teacher for the course, says the broadcasts have already attracted some fans — whether it’s out-of-town grandparents who can’t make it to the games, high school alumni or just teachers or students who aren’t able to attend in person.

“We’ve got a good following,” she said.

One thing that isn’t a part of the group’s dynamic — school rivalries.

Although the students come from all four high schools, the students said they leave their personal allegiances at the door.

“During this, we are all a team,” said Chandler Templeton, a senior at Oak Park High School who was serving as the producer of the show at the Oak Park homecoming football game.

Some students said working together has even helped them dispel some preconceived notions or ideas about students in other high schools.

“Now that we’re all friends, we respect each other’s schools,” said Talis Keath, a junior at Oak Park High School, who has taken on roles such as a camera operator, play-by-play announcer and graphics operator this season.

Each game, the student producer makes the job assignments and leads the direction of the broadcast.

Students spend time in class each week learning about each role, researching for the upcoming game and learning about sports marketing.

“It’s a very enthusiastic group of young people,” said Lyndall Dodson, the course instructor from Niles who works with the students on many of the technical aspects of production.

For many of the students in the class, the appeal of the program is the chance to earn real world skills and experience.

“It’s awesome, especially if some of us want to use this as a career choice,” said Ward Mershon, a junior at Staley High School. “It gives us an inside edge.”

This story was originally published October 7, 2014 at 2:51 PM with the headline "Program puts NKC students in broadcast booth."