AV classes prepare for real work
When is a green wall not a green wall? When it’s the back drop for an audio-visual camera set and appears to be a brick wall or the inside of an office or a map of the area. The green wall basically provides a canvas on which video equipment can place a background for the person being video-taped.
Students will have a new choice for electives with the AV classes and labs taught by Mark Laster, teacher at Pea Ridge High School.
The former choir rooms have been renovated. One wall in the
studio area is painted bright green, adjacent to the classroom space painted red and black and equipped with iMacs (MacIntosh computers) and other studio equipment.
Laster worked in television and radio in the 1990s. He earned a bachelor’s in TV/radio as well as a bachelor’s in education physical education and health and a master’s in administration. He moved to northwest Arkansas in 1994. At Pea Ridge High School since 2001, Laster worked in Siloam Springs for one year, then returned to PRHS. The TV production class in Siloam Springs is well funded and established, he said.
“They’ve spent a lot of money. It’s a huge part of their curriculum,” Laster said of the Siloam Springs high school. “We’re trying to get a grant.”
“About five or six years ago, Mr. Neal (then high school principal) said he wanted more electives for the kids,” Laster said.
Eventually, Laster hopes to have a TriCaster, as well as more equipment for the program. Four classes of TV Production 1 with two labs will be offered, he said.
“This will be a year of learning,” he said, adding that the program should build upon itself.
“We will have two in-studio cameras and four field cameras,” Laster said, adding that he hopes to expand the program to including a streaming network and filming sports events.
Students who complete the course at PRHS should be able to walk into a TV station and be able to handle the beginning stages of a job, Laster said, explaining that he is using equipment that is standard in the business. He said he’d like to coordinate with area businesses and even al- low seniors to leave at lunch to work at a TV station.
“Hopefully, this project will be the voice of the school and community,” Laster said. “My goal for Pea Ridge, for this area ... is for a lot of people to be proud of the focus on us.
“There is an unlimited source of news stories here,” he said.
Laster said he already had several students signed up and many have expressed interest in the program.
“This is a dream job,” he said. “Where else could I use an iMac and have students in here because they want to be in here? There are endless possibilities.
“I feel guilty getting to work in my dream job and to have this kind of a set-up.”