Beech Tree News Network

BCHS students Emily Rich and Kelsey Jenkins attended the Academy of Scholastic Broadcasting (ASB) Camp this past week in Kansas City, Missouri and produced award winning stories!

The camp is designed to teach students the basic elements of Broadcast Journalism. They learn to shoot, write, and edit video to tell a story. At this camp students not only receive instruction in the class room, but are also taken out into the field to get hands on experience and work on improving their skills. our students worked extremely hard during their four days in Kansas City.

Their days started each morning at 8:30 with classroom instruction from teachers and professionals in the industry. They also endured extremely hot conditions while spending much of their afternoons looking for stories in both downtown Lee's Summit and at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City.

Their "Big Shoot" took place on Tuesday afternoon as they took to the streets, given a little over three hours to find and shoot their stories. After getting the interviews and B-Roll needed to tell their stories with a complete beginning , middle and end it was back to the campus to begin the process of picking out just the right sound bites and shots to make their stories complete. After recording their voice overs, editing, revising and then editing some more, most finally put the finishing touches on their productions and were able to call it a night at about 10 p.m.

Even with the long days and extremely hot and humid conditions Emily and Kelsey proved that they have what it takes as they produced award winning stories during camp. "From Generation to Generation", a story shot in downtown Lee's Summit by both Emily and Kelsey, won the award for "Best Videography". The award for "Best Scriptwriting" went to Emily for, “Bird Sings”, the story she produced from the Country Club Plaza in downtown Kansas City. Finally, Emily also won the award, "Most Likely to Succeed", presented to the camper who best demonstrates the skills and talent necessary to be successful in broadcast journalism.

Kelsey, while combining with Emily for the "Best Videography" award for their Lee's Summit story, also proved herself to be very talented. Students were given the opportunity to try out for an anchor spot for the camp show. During these try outs Kelsey showcased her talents and was chosen for one of the two anchor spots available. You can view their individual stories as well as the "Camp Show" by clicking on the links below.

We can be very proud of these students for their hard work and desire to improve their ability to communicate effectively.