Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Ep 72: CSDtv Broadcasting Students Gaining Hands-on Experience in Digital Age
Here at Canyon School District, we strive to provide our students with opportunities for hands on learning to ensure every Canyon student graduates college and career ready.
CSDTV is joining in these efforts with a new student program. Currently in its inaugural year, CSDTV has 112 student broadcasters learning about all things broadcasting. From live streaming and commentating Canyon sporting events to news broadcasts, student run podcasts, and talk shows, CSDTV allows students to choose their own journey as they learn critical thinking, team collaboration, career exploration, and much more.
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2:Here at Canyons School District, we strive to provide our students with opportunities for hands-on learning to ensure every Canyons student graduates college and career ready. Csdtv is joining in these efforts with a new student program. Currently in its inaugural year, csdtv has 112 student broadcasters learning about all things broadcasting, from live streaming and commentating Canyons sporting events to news broadcasts, student run podcasts and talk shows. Csdtv allows students to choose their own journey as they learn critical thinking, team collaboration, career exploration and much more. Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook. Today I'm joined by one of CSDTV student broadcasters, xander. Hi, xander.
Speaker 2:Hi and we're also joined by KSL Anchor and Reporter and Mother of Canyons District student, shera Park. Hello everybody, hi, hi. Xander, I'd like to start with you. Will you tell us what got you into this program? What made you want to join CSDTV?
Speaker 3:Here at Union we have a lot of theater and we're known for, I would say I do stage tech here and I love stage tech because it's fun to do behind the scenes and all that. However, at this new school we don't have an auditorium, it's not done. So I've had no opportunity really to do that type of stage tech stuff. And starting, I think, in September, they posted an opportunity about this and how it was going to be starting and I was interested because I, when I was a little bit younger, I also made videos of me and my teddy bears and yeah, so that's how I got into it.
Speaker 4:It all starts there, yeah.
Speaker 2:Same question for you Tell us about your job and really, what got you into journalism in the first place?
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, sure, I started at KSL. Wow, we're almost 18 years ago. We've been working in broadcasting really for almost about 20 years, but my journey started back in junior high as well. But it wasn't me, it was my older brother. He was one of the first to start GTV at Granger High School and I got to watch him as he was running around with his best friend making these cool skip videos, hosting these little segments, and I just thought that looked so fun, like I wanted to do that, and he was just having so much fun with it, putting together the yearbook video, all these things and I thought that's what I want to do. I want to be in the center of attention. I want to be the center of attention in video like that in high school, and I want to do GTV as well. So, guess what? He ended up becoming a doctor, not a broadcaster.
Speaker 4:I went that direction. So when I got into high school and I got into GTV, I was so looking forward to it and my best friend and I we ran around doing these segments and these skids and I just knew I wanted to do something in broadcasting. I wanted to be on television. I wanted to be in front of people presenting right, and so I just knew from high school that I was going to go that direction.
Speaker 4:So when I went to college, I looked for a university that had a broadcasting program a good one and when I found a Northern Illinois University, I went out to Illinois and I played volleyball out there. I knew that was the perfect fit for me, and so the minute I got on campus I went marching into their broadcast studio as a little freshman who was a nobody and said this is what I'm going to do, help me figure out how to do it. And I remember the professor was just, he was blown away. He was like okay, yes, sure, we'll help you, we can do that. I've never met somebody so like ready to tackle this, and I just soaked it all up. I took every journalism class I could, every broadcast class, I could writing classes, and I honestly cannot remember anything else I studied in college other than those things because I was so passionate about it. And then I ended up working at a little station in Southern Utah for a year and then made my way to KSL and I've been there ever since, that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 2:So you were able to experience that hands-on learning early, early on.
Speaker 4:I think that is what inspired it. I think that I was able to put a camera in my hands, to put a microphone in my hands, to go out and talk to people right, and pretend in a way that I was a reporter and do those things. It gives you that rush, it gives me that feeling of, oh my goodness, I could do this as a career and I could love it.
Speaker 2:How important do you think it is as a parent with students here in the Canyon's district kids like Xander out there getting that hands on experience? I love that.
Speaker 4:Xander is doing these things. He walked in. I was like I could tell he loves this stuff. There are so many things you can do with your life and even in this career path with broadcasting, podcasting, social media. There's just so much to create out there, and so I think getting that experience in any field not just this one, but in all the different career opportunities that are out there at an early age to expose a child to that is critical. We're at a point where kids are going into college or going down certificate paths or different avenues, knowing early on what they want to do Right, and they're smart. Xander's doing way more than I could have ever is age right, I podcasted and exist when I was right.
Speaker 4:But I think anytime you can expose kids to a variety excuse me of opportunities, you're just opening up their minds to the possibilities that are out there, right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's why I've enjoyed it, because it's different. I don't hear a lot of people my age doing it, and it's you have so much, you do so much in your controlling stuff, trying to make sure everything's going in, just all these different things.
Speaker 4:And let me ask you how do you feel when you create something Like when you have a podcast episode, or you're on stage and you're or you're doing your tech stuff and something goes off without a hitch? That feeling right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, like that big rush yeah.
Speaker 4:Like you just accomplished something in that moment, and that's why I love doing what we do. Yeah that's.
Speaker 3:I find it so much fun.
Speaker 4:That's great.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, Xander. You've mentioned how much fun you've had. I know it's only been a couple of months. What are some of your favorite parts about CSDTV Fair?
Speaker 3:parts Sounds weird, but I enjoy setting it up. I'm so glad you do, because I don't.
Speaker 4:I have no idea. There's so many cables and microphones in here. I don't even. I would not even know what to do with all this stuff. You like the technical aspect of it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I really like the technical aspect of it because you get to really know what's going on and you get to help set it up. And then with CSDTV and it being so new, we've also every time I've got to teach someone new something, cause there's always a new kid at a broad one of our games or something like that. So it's fun. I love that. I love when these things are so new.
Speaker 4:I love that. I love when these young kids show up and they know way more than I do, way more.
Speaker 2:So you set up the whole podcast, you set up live streaming, all that.
Speaker 3:For the broadcast here at Udian, me and another CSDTV student, Haley Warner. We do it together with our history teacher, Mr S, and we do it in the morning. We set it up, invite, have our guests come in and we just start. It's pretty easy set up, I would say.
Speaker 2:Nice yeah. So that's some of your favorite parts about the job.
Speaker 4:Oh, for me I wish I could say it's a setup, but I honestly don't even know how to turn on my TV at home. I have to get my kids to help me do that. For me, it's meeting people. I love the opportunity to go out and talk to people, to get to know their story, to get to know their path in life, what makes them happy, and I love being able to share their story and their experiences in hopes of maybe inspiring other people. So one of my favorite segments that I get to do it was called the high five at one point at KSL and we would go out and we would highlight the good that was happening in the community that people were doing. And these are people that are doing it quietly, right, but I get to go and show it to the world and hopefully inspire somebody else to do something good as well. And for me, my favorite part of the job is meeting people, meeting the people making a difference in others lives and sharing their stories.
Speaker 2:That's great.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I also love being able to make it possible for other people to watch these games and stuff, if they weren't able to make it and also for looking back on it too, is really cool because it's if you're not there you don't get to see it, but through a broadcast you can anywhere.
Speaker 4:I love that. He said that as a working mom. So I've got two kids that Francis mentioned in the canyon school district. If they had a game or something that I couldn't be there, the fact that you have somebody like Xander who knows how to make it possible for a mom like me to watch it, that I love that. So from the other side, thank you.
Speaker 3:You're welcome.
Speaker 2:It really brings in the whole community too. You've got your working parents you've got grandma and grandpa. At home or living in Florida, California, they can just tune in and watch their grandkids play. That's a really great person.
Speaker 4:I love that he knows that too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's thinking of that. You recognize that, thank you. It goes Xander Xander when you join the program. I'm curious to know now, four months in or so, is it what you were expecting or is it different?
Speaker 3:Honestly, I had no clue what to expect coming into this, because it wasn't here at Union. So I was. It was a different people I've never met. It was with all these different people and different experiences. I didn't really know what to expect. However, I've adapted to it over time and I've really enjoyed it. I wouldn't be coming back if. I didn't enjoy it.
Speaker 2:So you're planning to come back?
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely.
Speaker 2:Good yeah, cher, same question for you as you were breaking into journalism. I mean, you were well prepared for it, but is it what you expected?
Speaker 4:Oh, it's everything I expected and more so, yes, I had this built up in my mind, that this is what it was going to be, and it did. It lived up to that. So I love what I do, I love this career, I love being a reporter, I love being an anchor, and more is where it is different. I didn't expect maybe the long hours or the unique hours when you're broadcasting.
Speaker 4:there are no real set hours, it's all over the place. I didn't expect, maybe, how heavy my job could be at times with the news of the world and how to separate that from my personal life and realize that is the exception and not the norm in my personal life. So there were other things in the category of more and more that you had to learn to adjust to. But I think you find that in any career right. But in terms of, was it what I expected? Yes, and in some ways even better.
Speaker 3:I think stage tech helped me set be set up for it, because in stage tech you spend a lot of hours setting up even more problems. So if, let's say, you have a set piece break, you have to rebuild it. You got to deal with actors.
Speaker 4:So it's actually easier. Do I fall into the actor category? You do, but you do you deal with different personalities? Oh yeah, Yep.
Speaker 2:Crazy hours too.
Speaker 4:You're staying after staying till 10 and trying to get the text side of it too Is you're behind the scenes, so you don't get the glory right If somebody, who else who goes out and is the host or the production itself, but you're the one behind the scenes and without you it doesn't happen. So you just kind of remember that without you, we don't get to go out and do what we do.
Speaker 2:It's so true, sure, these students are getting that hands on experience that we know some college students don't even get some of the experience that these middle schoolers and high schoolers are getting? What would your advice be to people looking into breaking into the broadcast field?
Speaker 4:Just try it, try everything. Right, you guys? Same thing, try everything. I even tell my kids, go try bad, go try choir, go try sports, go try everything. And if there's something in the broadcast world that you think, oh, that's not for me, there might be something. There are so many job opportunities or career paths within this industry and we are a society that is just becoming more digital, more savvy when it comes to tech, and I just think when you're young and you're at that age, do it now. I wish I knew how to code. That was something I wish somebody would have shown me the path to know how to code something or to use my computer more right.
Speaker 4:I'm like basic here, but I just think if there is an opportunity in your school and if a parent's listening to this, encourage your child to just try it right. You just never know what's going to stick.
Speaker 3:I'd have to agree because starting a middle school, there's all these opportunities and they're free for you to try yeah Like there's. No, you're not going to be hurt if you try them. It's with experience, too, that you say you've done trying, ban trying, choir, stage, tech, theater. Maybe you won't do them in the future, however, it's just worth giving a shot.
Speaker 4:Absolutely, and then as you move on, if there are opportunities in college, high school and just going up the ladder here you've already had a little taste of it, so it's not as scary, maybe to try in the future. Definitely.
Speaker 2:That's a good point, xander, would you say, in the projects that you've done with stage tech, with CSDTV, are there things that you've tried that you know at first were a little skeptical of, and Lyria, but now you're like hey, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 3:Yeah, last year they asked me to be in charge of sound for our dance concert and I was terrified because that'd be controlling every, all the music. That's a lie.
Speaker 4:All the dancers are waiting for you.
Speaker 3:That's a seventh grader, oh boy.
Speaker 2:No pressure.
Speaker 3:However, I turned out to love it. I messed up once, I might have played the wrong song. We fixed it in a few seconds. However, I really enjoyed it. After and with CSDTV, there's also been experiences like trying to be a producer, being a switcher. It's been fun and that guy was not going to be. I didn't know I was going to be a switcher and Justin asked me hey, be a switcher. I'm like, okay, and I was terrified, but it was a lot of fun. At the end, a switcher.
Speaker 4:Is that like the big board with all the buttons? Yeah, that terrifies me. We had in our control room at KSL there. This board goes half the distance of the room and it gives me anxiety just looking at it. That's amazing.
Speaker 2:I just want to push all the pretty buttons.
Speaker 4:I know.
Speaker 2:See what happens Xander with everything that you've experienced so far. Have you thought about what you want to do when you leave school? What do you want to do next?
Speaker 4:What I want to do next.
Speaker 3:I've always had a mindset of being an entrepreneur, as I love working for myself and that I will get a really big adrenaline rush from making money.
Speaker 4:So I we all do, I'll do.
Speaker 3:So I really want to do something with my own business. Now, if that's going to be of tech broadcasting theater, I don't know. However, I'm definitely going to take these skills to my advantage and use them to help me get to where I want to be.
Speaker 2:You've learned things that you can translate to other, yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, definitely with my business and marketing class here at union.
Speaker 4:And yeah, all the different oh they have a business and marketing class. That's amazing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we run the school store and these are the things I wish I had.
Speaker 2:So, xander, as you're doing your podcast, you're producing shows and things. Is there anyone, anyone in the world if you could have them as a guest? Who would it be?
Speaker 3:Fuck it up Anyone as a guest man who I know that's a hard question.
Speaker 4:There's so many cool people out there there are Hmm, hmm, past or present? Oh, I know one.
Speaker 3:It'd be interesting to hear from Steve Jobs. I think It'd be a lot of fun because he has so many unique views on business and everything.
Speaker 2:Especially on that entrepreneurial pathway.
Speaker 3:What about you?
Speaker 4:Okay, good, that's a hard question, really hard. Just off the top of my head, I honestly think I'd want to interview Walt Disney, that's what I was thinking. Or even Bob Iger. Now today, I would love to learn about how that has all come to be and the growth and just it's fascinating.
Speaker 2:So I think yeah, I think I was starting with a little mouth, I know I know.
Speaker 4:So I think for me I would be Walt Disney, just because I'd be fascinated to hear the story from him personally. Isn't that so random?
Speaker 3:It is so random.
Speaker 4:I was thinking about too.
Speaker 2:It's a really random thing, but probably that's great.
Speaker 4:He's somebody who took his passion and now it's and fought against all the odds to make what he made, and now it is a legacy.
Speaker 3:You're going to make a mouse popular.
Speaker 2:But what a fun. Alexander, do you have any questions for Shara?
Speaker 4:Oh flip the table on me here.
Speaker 3:What's the most rewarding part of your job that you don't maybe see in the moment. However, after you realize, okay, that was really rewarding.
Speaker 4:I want to say there's probably two things that are the most rewarding. One would be stuff like this I love being able to talk about my job, talk about my career and the path that I took to students who may want to do that one day. I love that. It's very rewarding to be able to share that with people and hopefully to inspire people and to try. I think the other thing, the most rewarding thing, is when I have an opportunity to do a story that inspires or that I can walk away. For example, we do a lot of stories families who have lost loved ones, things like that but when I am able to gain the trust from a family to share their story and to create something that they can look back on and be proud of, that they participated in and that is something that they can pass on to other family members to watch, that's the most rewarding thing for me, because I know not only did I do my job, but that I also gave somebody else something that is meaningful. Yeah, do you?
Speaker 2:have any questions, Rosanne.
Speaker 4:No other than I. Just I'm very proud of you.
Speaker 2:When I get to meet students like you I am.
Speaker 4:I'm thrilled, I'm excited for your future and just to know that there are so many possibilities and this kid's going to do amazing things.
Speaker 2:Definitely, you can tell. I want to thank you both for joining us. It's been a pleasure to get to know how the program is doing and how our students are already on a good footing to get to where you are now. Absolutely.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and thank you for listening. If there is a topic you'd like to hear discussed on Connect Canyons, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
