Activity Spotlight: ETV

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Cathryn Seibert

The average  high school student may think that 7:23 a.m. is an early time for school to start, but for members of ETV, Emmaus High School’s live daily newscast program, that’s late.

“You have to come here at 7 a.m.,” says junior Tori Aten, a tech worker for ETV, says. “A little earlier, if you can.”

After the 7 a.m. arrival time, Aten says members work through their scripts, set up their equipment, and troubleshoot in preparation for their homeroom show.

Aten, a lover of filmmaking, became involved in ETV this year, helping handle “the effects that happen, what you see on screen… just kind of putting it all together.”

According to Jill Kuebler, communications teacher and ETV advisor along with Steven Braglio, ETV “aim[s] to provide the students of EHS with news and information about school, community, and world events through a high quality live newscast each day.”

The program, which has been running for 15 years, usually accepts 16 to 18 students, but this year,  ETV accepted 23 members “as we had a high degree of talent and interest.”

Kuebler feels that the ETV environment can be “high pressure” and that “everyone has to be on top of their game each morning.” Despite the pressure, she believes ETV is rewarding in many aspects, including its “real-world application” as well as a “collaborative environment.”

Junior Luke Csordas, who started working with ETV last year, attributes his involvement with the program to his interest in television and broadcasting. He works on-air, covering a variety of jobs including, anchor and weatherman, and also helps with Tricaster and studio controller.

Of all the various jobs, Csordas prefers to “perform” on air and enjoys making videos which may or may not run.

“That’s really fun, to plan that and film those types of things,” he says.

Both Csordas and Aten got involved with ETV after becoming aware of the opportunity through taking Communications one, but while Csordas enjoys being on screen, Aten says her favorite part of participating in ETV is “learning the actual equipment.”

“It’s really interesting,” she says. “It’s not something that you get to do every day or see every day.”


Reporting by Izzy Wegner. Photos by Delaney Gottschall.