One of our favorite things about the A+ Award is that it gives us the opportunity to meet young men and women from all of the state who are following their passions and learning new skills. The BEAT Program, at Brunswick Middle School and High School is full of students who do just that. This group of nearly 50 students find, research, and produce news stories for both print and television news! This week’s A+ Award goes to the Brunswick City Schools’ BEAT Program for keeping their community in the know.
Faculty advisor John Wasylko told us that the team of students generally produce 3 - 5 stories a day. The participants are responsible for finding the stories, researching them, and then producing a final product. The stories, some of which are for newspapers, and others are for television, are shared with about 20 media outlets across Northeast Ohio including the Medina Gazette, WKYC, WEWS, WJW, and WOIO.
Getting onto the BEAT team is no easy task. Anderson, an eighth grader, told us that BEAT spoke to his fifth grade class and he applied as a sixth grader. He needed three faculty recommendations to support his application and he had to go through an interview. Sounds like my job here at NewsDepth!
Once you make it into the BEAT program, it doesn’t get any easier! Ryan, also in eighth grade, told us that it’s all about accountability and hard work. He told us that as an eighth grader, he’s responsible for producing six written articles a year and has to appear in three on-screen stories.
Anderson and Ryan both agreed that it’s extremely rewarding to be able to tell the stories of their community and that the community is grateful for the work they do.
When we asked them for some advice, Ryan told us that it’s important to do what you're passionate about and to follow your interests. Anderson echoed that and told us that you should always embrace what makes you unique. Great advice, guys.
This week’s A+ Award goes to the BEAT Program at Brunswick Middle and High School for researching and telling the stories of their community to Northeast Ohio. Keep up the great work!
Submit your ideas for our NewsDepth A+ segment to newsdepth@ideastream.org for consideration.
