ARGYLE STUDENTS
Learning
Ropes THE
by Steve Gamel | photos courtesy of Jeff Woo at the Denton Record-Chronicle
S
tacy Short believes that the best way to learn something is by doing it. So when she heard this summer that the UIL was lifting its ban on live broadcasting Friday night football games, she didn’t hesitate to get her students involved.
Actually, the word “involved” doesn’t do Argyle High School’s new broadcasting team any justice. If you’ve been to an
Eagles game lately — or you watched it
from home on the Argyle Sports YouTube account — you likely did a double-take when you heard that students were
running the live feed. These students, some as young as sophomores, are
receiving professional coaching and
real-world experience doing everything
related to on-air work. This includes running cables, equipment setup, working with the Eagles’ adult play-by-play and color commentators, operating cameras on the field and from the press box, and creating graphics, highlight reels, feature packages, and everything in between. With the help of many, they are part of something much bigger. And the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I just advise and make sure it all goes
okay,” Short said with a laugh. “My whole reason for doing this was to get these
kids chances to build their resume and
portfolio. And now they have the material to do it. They are learning what it takes
to be a professional, and we’ve received great feedback from the community.
To show that to the kids motivates them even more. It has opened up so many possibilities.”
Short never saw herself doing something like this when she started teaching
30 years ago. She had a journalism
background, but she was an English
teacher at the time. Now, she’s the faculty
advisor for Argyle’s student news website, The Talon News, and teaches film, audiovisual production, photography, writing, digital and traditional animation, and
now broadcasting. She has anywhere
from seven to eight students designated specifically for live broadcasts.
“We’ve had to troubleshoot along the way,” she said. “Our home games run pretty smoothly because we have the
equipment there and the whole setup. But when we went to Celina, we had to set up
in the bleachers and drop a 300-foot cable beneath the bleachers. When we went to Texarkana, we were also outside. I think I 16 | ARGYLE LIVING | NOVEMBER 2020
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