10 years of Barrington High TV: Toys, acclaim, charitable success
For those unfamiliar with Barrington High School's award-winning BHS-TV news program, it probably came as a shock to learn it received $140,000 from donors this fall to buy a state-of-the-art news van for its students.
But the purchase is just another feather in the cap for the program, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.
In that time, BHS-TV students have racked up awards and accomplishments. Its news program, broadcast every few weeks for students throughout the school, won the Chicago/Midwest Emmy for best student newscast this year.
BHS-TV students have earned more than 50 Student Excellence Awards from the National Television Academy, won 30 national competitions and been invited twice to the White House. In all, students have produced more than 5,000 videos over the past decade.
The BHS-TV class has become so popular that instructor Jeff Doles teaches five sections of it and there is still a waitlist.
Sophomore Blake Davis said the class's unusual format is part of the appeal.
“Mr. Doles is here as a resource; it's not lecture-based,” Blake said. “You learn from everyone around you, and him, to make videos on your own.”
On Wednesday, Blake was producing a video about Barrington resident Tom Gould, who nearly died when he suffered a cardiac arrest in February. His son, Brendan, saved him by performing CPR. As Blake worked on one of the top-of-the-line Apple computers in the BHS-TV's classroom/studio, another student showed him editing tricks.
Like many videos produced by BHS-TV students, someone outside the class requested that BHS-TV make it. In this case it was the physical education department, which plans to play the video for students learning about CPR.
BHS-TV students also get plenty of opportunity to pursue their own topics. Jack Longo, a senior and the student co-president of BHS-TV, is working on an animation piece called “Food For Thought” about inclusion and promoting acceptance of others despite differences.
Jack said a combination of resources and passion are behind the program's success.
“We're very lucky to live in a very affluent area where we are given a lot of professional-grade equipment,” Jack said. “Also we are able to work on pieces that mean something to us.”
Senior Jan-Edward Gierlach says he's benefitted from his participation in BHS-TV even though he won't be pursuing TV production or journalism in college. Jan-Edward was part of the three-student team whose submission to The White House Student Film Festival won them a trip to Washington earlier this year.
Their video featured an interview with Sam Harris, a Holocaust survivor and the president emeritus of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie.
“I don't know under what other pretense that connection would have been made,” Jan-Edward said of his opportunity to meet with Harris. “I've learned and gained so much from this class. It's really an invaluable program.”
Over the years BHS-TV students have made videos for local nonprofits, something of which Doles is particularly proud.
“We're very lucky. We have a lot of nice toys, but we try to pay it forward and make a difference in society,” he said.
Katherine Logue, chairwoman of the Barrington 220 Educational Foundation, said it's estimated the videos have helped local charities raise more than $6 million over the past 10 years. The foundation has provided funding for much of the state-of-the-art equipment the BHS-TV students use.
“The videos help them promote their causes, and (students) do them for free,” Logue said. “If the nonprofit had to pay, I don't know if they'd be able to get that done.”
Kathy Weidner, whose son Rob Weidner was involved in BHS-TV and is now working as a freelance video producer in Cape Town, South Africa, said Doles is an important part of the program's success.
“Jeff Doles is an incredible mentor for these kids, not just what he teaches them but for the expectations he has for them,” said Weidner, also a board member of the foundation. “He gives them the reins and expects good things from them. ... He doesn't step in and fix things. The kids learn how to do it themselves.”