Tenafly, NJ USA – A few years ago, Tenafly High School’s oldest small yellow school bus had to be taken out of service due to state regulations regarding aging school vehicles. It was agreed that the bus could be ideal for use in high school broadcasting so the seats were removed and students helped install new equipment funded by the high school’s Home School Association. Hand me down equipment from local broadcasting companies was also integrated. A very generous anonymous donor painted the bus bright orange and black, the school’s colors. School sports events could now be regularly recorded and then played back on Tenafly’s local access education channel.
This past week, a new challenge was set forth and met. Due to construction, Tenafly High School’s graduation had to be moved to the football field, a location removed from the high school, so it became necessary to devise a way of broadcasting LIVE from the football field to the town of Tenafly. It was also necessary for the bus to have a quiet and independent power source, and a bird’s eye angle for a camera. These requirements were met through the following additions:
A quiet new Honda generator model EU3000is purchased from KEEHN EQUIPMENT, Hackensack. It powers the TV equipment in the bus.
Telescoping mast purchased from CLARK MASTS was installed and erects through the roof top emergency exit of the bus. Atop of the mast is a GLIDECAM VISTA HEAD pan tilt head directing a SONY HVR-Z1U HD camera
Wireless broadband network card from SPRINT enables audio and video to be streamed back to the control room via Windows Media Encoder – once there it is scan converted back to TV and broadcast live to the community
Students operate the cameras pan tilt zoom from a homemade console with pan tilt joystick and zoom control inside the bus (connected to Nycoil looping around the mast up to the camera)
These additions enabled the broadcast of the high school graduation LIVE and “C-SPAN style” to the community. All new equipment performed well beyond all expectations. All this equipment packaged in a vehicle with a lot of character rivals the capabilities of professional vehicles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. And most importantly the students involved with the broadcast had fun and felt good about the service they provided to their community.
STUDENTS BEAMING UP TO BBC WORLD IN U.S. HIGH SCHOOL
Tenafly, NJ USA - December 6, 2006: BBC World now informs students in one of New Jersey’s top high schools. In order to bring top quality international sources into Tenafly High School their library has turned to the BBC World as news channel of choice on their newly acquired flat screen monitors installed at both entrances of the school’s library. In front of these monitors, a sound isolation dome allows students standing under to easily listen and watch BBC World and catch up on the news between periods or during free time. Just leaving his place under a dome, a student exclaimed “BBC World is great!” Under the domes, students look as though they are ready to be “beamed up,” and in a way they are because comments from Tenafly High School students about BBC World have all been positive. They recognize quality commercial free reporting.
In the United States, BBC World is only available 24/7 through Cablevision in the New York metropolitan area, so the Tenafly High School Library decided to take full advantage by acquiring a digital cable box in order to receive the broadcast. BBC World gives Tenafly High School students the chance to see America from a different point of view, more as the world sees us. Cablevision carries the channel 24/7 and it is commercial free. And it has been noticed that BBC World reports regularly on situations in Africa, sometimes tragic, reports that US news organizations seem to shy away from, perhaps as a means of preserving their ratings. BBC’s motto “Putting News First” seems to place emphasis wholly on the news and not on the "stars" delivering the news as is so often observed in the US television news services. As a result of this ethic, Tenafly High School students are learning more through BBC World by having more exposure to world events through a top quality news service.
Tenafly High School is located just north of the George Washington Bridge and was rated second in the state by New Jersey Monthly Magazine. It was also chosen by the US Department of Education No Child Left behind Blue Ribbon School. David Di Gregorio is their Supervisor of Library Media Services.
Tenafly High School's
Lalor Library Media Center 2006-2007
”Uniquely combining print, non print, electronic, live, and broadcast media”
The Lalor Library Media Center has received numerous contributions from many individuals, organizations, and companies. These contributions are the life blood of our facility because they enable a continuous improvement and provide interesting and varied experiences for our students. We would like to acknowledge and thank all of those involved with supporting our high school library media center.
»The Tenafly High School H.S.A., through their amazing broadcast fund, over the last few years, has raised over $25,000 for broadcasting equipment. These contributions came from many residents donating to the fund. Their names are displayed on a plaque hung in our school. Last year the H.S.A. had our broadcast bus beautifully repainted by an individual that prefers to remain anonymous. The latest expenditure enabled our lighting to be suspended over the studio in the library.
»Tribune Broadcasting (Channel 11) donated all kinds of equipment (to include our news desk) that has been fully integrated into our setup.
»WNJU (Channel 47) contributed various equipment and students will learn its operation for live productions in particular.
»Herb Browning from Media Visions contributed very useful batteries, lighting, and audio equipment to enhance video acquisition.
»Mr. And Mrs. Pendergast from Willow Run donated plants to place the finishing touch on our newly refurbished library.
»Ikegami USA has given us special equipment to test, monitors, and pricing consideration.
»Equipment donated by CNBC and ABC TV has been integrated into our setup.
»The value added to our facility through the support of individuals and the private sector is substantial. The results of the public and private sector working together to benefit our students we hope will continue. Should there be other opportunities for support or if you would like to visit our unique facility, please contact us at 201-816-6617.
LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER NEW LOOK
Over the summer, current and former students David Kim (03), Jason Hain (06), Dror Nawrocki (09), Ofir Davidesko (06), Oryan Amano (06), Mark Fagnano (05), Jennifer Hellman (08), Polat Diyarbekirlioglu (09), Justin Schroeder (06), Jennifer Hellman (08) were hired to accomplish a huge task; move everything out of the library media center to prepare for carpet installation.
Once everything was out the carpet installers arrived and removed the old carpet, replacing it with practical neutral color carpet squares.
After the carpet installation, shelves were set in place and all 22,000 books were carefully shelved in Dewey Decimal order. During the upheaval, improvements and new features have been integrated to include the following:
»Non-fiction and reference shelved together »Open TV studio with suspended lighting »Tiled studio floor »Videoconferencing in library TV studio »New titles (ongoing over the next few months) »Sound isolation domes in front of TV monitors for listening »Improved broadcast features »Clearly marked shelves »Student – guest meeting and reception area »Added project creation I-Mac computers
These improvements will benefit our students for many years to come.
COMMUNITY SERVICE VOLUNTEER PROJECTS
Community service enable students to contribute to their own education, develop experience and reputation, and also have a good time. In addition, this kind of activity is logged by the school and shows up on transcripts sent to colleges. Colleges and universities value the effect this experience has on its perspective applicants. The high school library can provide some community service opportunities and encourages students to find out about them. Here are some positions that are available: »Videotaping Board of Education Meetings »Various craft projects »Assistance with our aquariums »Shelving books »Sports video Acquisition
Pictured above: Su Jee Lee and Seung Yeon Lee work on special signage which will be placed on each shelf in the library and used for indicating where books are located. This project was started by Jenifer Hellman over the summer. It entails cutting, then gluing a brass channels to a wooden plaque. A four inch piece square of plastic with printed information slides in, resulting an a very attractive, useful, and flexible sign system.
Students interested in the Community Service Program are advised to stop in to the Principal’s office to pick up the appropriate form. One side is filled out by the student, the other by the parent. There are a number of opportunities, not only in the library. We hope they are taken advantage of!
THS-TV AWARDS
SCHOOL, STUDENT, AND STAFF NEWS
DR. KONTOGIANNIS PRESENTED WITH PRESTIGIOUS BLUE RIBBON AWARD
Leigh Barker's Team In Training Page Racing to Save Lives
After the Belmar 5 with training partner John Witterschein, where I placed 12th in my age group!
On Sunday September 4, I completed the Virginia Beach Rock & Roll Half Marathon! Traveling as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team In Training was an exciting and moving experience. It was particularly inspiring to have our honored teammate, Jack Ruggiero who is fighting leukemia for the second time, in Virginia with his kids cheering for us from the sidelines.
I am happy to say that with your help I was able to raise $5000 that will go directly to research to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. Often discoveries that help fight these cancers help in the fight of numerous other cancers. The combined efforts of the more than 500 TNT participants this past weekend raised over $1.1 million for blood cancer research!
I am also very happy to say that I surpassed my goal of running 13.1 miles at a 9 minute pace which would have put me at 2 hours. My official time was 1:53.17 which works out to an 8:40 pace. The TNT supporters were helpful in getting me through the race, but when I was really struggling at the end it was the names that I had written on the back of my jersey that got me through. The last 2 miles were the toughest- my hamstring was knotting up, I was starting to feel dehydrated, the blisters were coming on, but I still knew that my fight to the finish line was nothing compared to fighting cancer.
To get me through the final 2 miles (or approximately 20 minutes) I spent 30 seconds at a time thinking of the following people and their families who suffered through their loved one's fight as well. These are the people that kept my legs moving through the finish line: my mom and her sister, both breast cancer survivors, the Beadels, so many of whom had one form of cancer or another, Jack Ruggiero, Luke Lambert, Ursula Brackenbury, Rudolph H. Wissler, Jeanette Clemente, Jim Ward, an elementary schooler in Ridgewood in remission, Trenton Rothbard, Gayle Rothbard, Joan Warmbrand, Doris Brautigan, Dina Rosen, Elizabeth Scrivani, Donald Hense, Steve Zecher, Tom Boras, Chung Yun Suh, Ercole Maschio, and Carl Kosloff.
Thanks for your support! I hope someday you too might consider doing an event with Team in Training. It is a program for runners, triathletes but also walkers.
LIBRARY MEDIA CENTER NEWS
Conference Calls used to Connect and Inform Students Tenafly, NJ - “Conference Calls” are used in the financial world to inform investors, so why not use the same idea in schools to help inform students? This is exactly what is happening between Tenafly High School and Neues Gymnasium Nurnberg, Germany. This week and next week students in Leigh Barker’s US II classes at Tenafly High School are connecting with English Language classes at Neues Gymnasium Nuremberg, Germany. Through an Internet search, Tenafly High School Library Media Specialist, David DiGregorio found a school and eventually got in touch with Dr. Sabine Prechter, an English teacher at the school who was enthusiastic about the idea. She even asked her students to return to the School at 5:30 p.m. German time to accommodate the time difference between countries. Ms. Barker’s class was interested in comparing what is taught in schools in Germany with what is taught here in the United States. Questions were prepared and emailed to Germany in advance and a secure, private, passworded web page, which could be shared on both sides of the Atlantic, was setup with location maps, pictures of individual students, and a discussion forum for students to continue their conversation.
At Tenafly High School, the library media center’s Academic Theatre was set up in a U-shaped configuration. At a calling cost of less than two cents per minute, free Internet phone software called “Skype” was employed as a most effective “computer speaker phone”, and the room’s connected amplification system and microphone were controlled by Ms. Barker as she passed the microphone to students from inside the U-shaped table arrangement.
At the start of the conference, as an ice breaker, students compared their tastes in music and discussed what kind of music they enjoyed. Many similarities were found. Moving toward the prepared questions, students in Ms. Barker’s class found out that it is a requirement for German students to visit concentration camps to further understand their history. They also heard about some impressions students in Germany have of the United States. Students here learned about the challenges Germany faces in its reunification. Students in Germany were surprised at the makeup of our student population. German students asked if Tenafly was at all like Wisteria Lane. As Ms. Barker’s social studies students found out about Germany, Dr. Prechter’s English students had an opportunity to put their English language skills to practical use.
Meanwhile, projected on the screen in the Academic Theatre at Tenafly High School was the common web page as well as “Google Earth”, a free downloadable program that effectively shows locations throughout the world through literally “zooming in” from space. Through this software, satellite imagery actually enabled students to see the rooftop of the school they were in contact with. And zooming out they could see where it was located in relation to other countries in Europe.
Throughout the interactive conference call students were very attentive and seemed to very much enjoy “comparing notes”. There was much laughter as well as pondering moments that made for deeper thought. It seems that students on both sides of the Atlantic benefited from this experience. Dr. Prechter’s and Ms. Barker’s classes will have a second conference call on Monday, March 20, at 11:00 a.m. After the first conference Ms. Mihl, Nurnberg Neues Gymnasium’s Vice Principal indicated a desire to continue the relationship between the two schools looking towards a possible student exchange in the future.
Future conference calls may include connections to schools in America’s South and perhaps even to various countries in Middle East.
THS-TV NEWS RELEASE
October 10, 2005 Tenafly High School Television
David Di Gregorio 201-816-6617 ddigregorio@tenafly.k12.nj.us
Free Educational Programming from the Annenberg/CPB Channel to be Available Through THS Building Channel 3 and CablevisionChannel 77 Tenafly Tenafly and Washington, D.C.—The Annenberg/CPB Channel of free educational programming is now available to Tenafly High School and members of the Tenafly, NJ community, thanks to a new alliance between Tenafly High School and Annenberg/CPB in Washington, D.C.
The Annenberg/CPB Channel will be available over Channel 3 in the high school 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is also available, streamed over the Internet, at www.librarymedia.net on the broadcast and streaming page menu. Selected programs, yet to be determined, will be broadcast to the community.
The nationally distributed Annenberg/CPB Channel features renowned Annenberg/CPB educational series in all areas of the high school and college curriculum, professional development programming for educators, and workshops through which K-12 teachers can earn graduate credit.
The Channel Web site can be found at www.learner.org . While visiting this site you may check out the schedule. Available free nationwide, the Channel has no commercial advertising, and is produced by Annenberg/CPB with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
“After several trips to the roof installing and tweaking a replacement satellite dish, we’re pleased to be able to link up with this free educational service,” said David DiGregorio, Media Specialist at Tenafly High School. “This is a great opportunity to show viewers in Tenafly what we can do for them thanks to these new technologies. We’re especially glad to be able to increase educational programming at no subscription charge, and at such a high level of quality. Only a minimal investment was made to upgrade a satellite dish and purchase a receiver.”
Annenberg/CPB, a partnership between the Annenberg Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, uses media and telecommunications to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg/CPB funds educational series and teacher professional development workshops for the Annenberg/CPB Channel.
The Channel is distributed free by satellite to schools and to other educational and community organizations nationwide. The notable series, workshops and activities of Annenberg/CPB include A Biography of America, Destinos, French in Action, Journey North, The Mechanical Universe, The Private Universe Project, the Teaching Math Libraries, and The Western Tradition as well as German and ESL instruction.
