Marble Falls High School turning up volume with A/V studio expansion
Aiden Park, a senior at Marble Falls High School, shoots footage of fellow senior Amber Clark while Jackie Winn observes for a documentary project he and four others are completing. Staff photo by Jared Fields
JARED FIELDS • PICAYUNE STAFF
MARBLE FALLS — A bright green sheet hangs in between shelving units in Matt Turner’s class at Marble Falls High School.
The room has nearly 20 computers, and near his desk are two DSLR cameras sitting tall on tripods. For now, it serves as the audio/visual department’s studio.
That all will soon change as construction of a new studio in two rooms across the hall from Turner’s classroom begins in the coming weeks.
“Half of it will be a computer lab and half a broadcast studio,” said Turner, who teaches A/V production and graphic design at Marble Falls High School. “In between will be a control room with a sound booth to the side. We tried to think of everything.”
The studio’s construction is a project made possible with a $6.5 million bond passed by voters in May 2014.
Many of the students Turner teaches also take classes in the journalism tract. Wayne Grumet, the high school’s journalism teacher, and his students will use the studio for newspaper and yearbook projects.
“I want to offer my students the chance to explore videography and marketing. The journalism program is designed to expose students to as many workplace skills as possible,” said Grumet, who is in his first year at Marble Falls. “We focus on writing, graphic design and photography, but marketing is also a huge factor in the business world.”
Until the studio is built, Turner’s students continue improving their skills on class projects and a campus news show called “The Mane.”
The class just rewatched the most recent episode of the show and added an item to the board every time they saw something to improve or had an idea for the next episode. More than a dozen phrases covered the white board afterward.
“This is what we need to focus on to take it from a fair to good level to a great level,” Turner said. “And that’s kind of our theme for this year, ‘Good to Great.’”
Students in one A/V production class are working on making a music video. In another, they’re creating a documentary to enter into contests. In the mornings, Turner teaches graphic design classes and Principles of A/V Technologies and Communications.
After learning how to use different equipment and software last semester, Turner said it’s now time to take “our journalist level up another notch.”
“We have people in here who want to be sound engineers. Other people want to be editors of highlight shows and things of that nature as well,” Turner said. “They really enjoy the creative aspects of those things.”
Shows like “The Mane,” other projects and contests offer students different opportunities to gain real-world experience.
Beyond the classroom, the high school will soon see the students’ work on a daily basis.
School announcements won’t just be heard; they’ll be seen live every day.
“Streaming video announcements every day,” Turner said. “The next step for some kids is they’re going to learn how to live produce.”
And the next step after all this? To be workforce ready.
The goal for Turner, Grumet or any other teacher of a career/technology pathway is for their students to have the tools to enter the workforce after graduation.
Grumet — who taught for 10 years in the Tampa, Florida, area before coming to Marble Falls — is looking forward to the studio’s completion.
“This will be the most advanced studio I have seen,” he said. “We are excited to get to expand our horizons.”
jared@thepicayune.com