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Small-town news exposed by group of high schoolers
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Michael Arbeed, 14, operates a camera during an interview for student-run television program “Hillsborough Community News,” a 15-minute show on cable channel 27 in Hillsborough.
HILLSBOROUGH (Map, News) - Hillsborough — In the private, small town, a group of kids fresh out of middle school are on a crusade to provide news to a community that is often shut off from the rest of the county.
Sixteen Burlingame and San Mateo high school students who attended Crocker Middle School in Hillsborough have launched a community television news show featuring stories about their town. Resident and recently elected U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier was interviewed and featured in their premiere broadcast in April.
Morgan Babbs, 14, and her group say they hope the publicity created by their cable television show will help turn around the stereotype that Hillsborough is a private, nothing-going-on sort of town.
“It’s really exciting to bring it out into the whole community,” said Babbs, a San Mateo High school freshman. “It’s just something different. Nothing like it’s been done before.”
The kids, who are mostly freshman, perform all the filming, interviewing and do some of their own editing. They take turns filling each role and let one another know about upcoming shoots in typical 21st-century teenager fashion.
“If they need a cameraperson, they text each other, ‘Hey can you come over?’” show co-chair and parent Adrienne Leigh-Schubiner said.
The 15-minute show, called “Hillsborough Community News,” runs twice daily on cable channel 27 in Hillsborough, with a new episode airing the first day of each month.
The group formed after most of them worked on a similar news show at Crocker.
The show has already highlighted Crocker eighth-graders’ community service program to help homeless, profiled an 18-year-old former Hillsborough student who wrote a book about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and filmed a story on Burlingame High School’s reusable water bottle program.
“In Hillsborough there’s not a lot of breaking exciting news because it’s a quiet town,” news team member Haley Hirai, 16, said.
“Each story has to relate to Hillsborough in some way, and we try to do stories that promote the town and encourage the residents to get involved in community service and volunteer and things like that,” Hirai said.
The students typically find time for tapings between after-school programs such as sports and drama.
Leigh-Schubiner said the group originally thought it would be difficult to find stories in the community of 11,000 residents and no businesses, but so far they have more ideas than they know what to do with.
“We’ve found a lot of stories that we didn’t even know were there,” she said.
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San Bruno Examiner Reader said:
Article would have been more informative if you had included the Senate Bill Number. I found that it is SB1447
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Examiner Reader said:
If a high school student doesn't have enough credits to graduate, whose fault is it but thier own. I went to high school, had four years to fulfill what i was suposed to, and did. If you can't do what your asked (which is a students sole resposibility) than it makes sense not to walk. High school kids think everything is going to fall on thier lap, welcome to reality!
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Examiner Reader said:
More importantly I would argue that a child in good standing, with non-diminished cerebral skills who is unable to pass the exit exams may have been failed by his teachers and the school district. Should we be punishing students for their shortcomings? If the exit exams serve as proof that someone has learned enough to deserve a diploma then why not let failing students take it, and if they pass, give them diplomas. This is coming from someone who completely failed High School, took the GED without studying the phone book they have for that exam, and scored in the top 13% in the country. The common response I receive is: "well congratulations, your smarter then 87% of all the other High School dropouts out there, what an achievement". Guess what, GED scores are compared against High School graduates scores who have also taken the test. My point, Grades mean nothing, it's what you learn. Work smart not hard sums up my high school career. Make the diploma mean something.
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San Mateo Dad said:
don't ya think that not getting the diploma is enough? maybe they shouldn't get invited to any graduation parties, either.... It's up to the school (the district). My child's graduation is not in any way marred by letting other kids walk across the stage. Maybe we should have a separate ceremony for the kids who failed, and we can throw tomatoes at them and make them feel foolish. Am sure that would straighten them out, eh? [sarcasm intended] Kids who do everything but pass the exit exam have still accomplished a lot. Let's help them stay on the right path, instead of making them feel foolish. Isn't that a more important objective??
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Jack Kirkpatrick said:
"High school districts in San Mateo County will face a delicate decision of whether to allow students who don’t pass the state exit exam to walk the stage during graduation with the rest of their class." This is no delicate decision. If a student doesn't fulfill all of the requirements of the exit examination, they don't collect the laurels of family and class recognition or the diploma cover!
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