january 2010

budding young broadcasters shine on CTV

At one time or another, many of us have dreamt of being on television but few get to live out that dream.  For some students of Thomas B. Riley School, however, it’s a different story. These auspicious kids get to try their hand at broadcast journalism through a unique program called Cardel Kidcasters.

The Cardel Kidcasters program was created with the support of Cardel Homes and a partnership between CTV and the Calgary Board of Education and initiated by CTV reporter Lisa Bowes. The program introduces Grade 7 and 8 students to the world of broadcast journalism, while emphasizing the importance of research, writing and oral communication skills to the profession.

This year, the first eight weeks of the 16-week campaign are providing a lead up to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, while the remaining eight weeks will take place post-games.  The students have the amazing opportunity to interview some of Canada’s Olympians in a real press conference setting. They then write and present an on-camera assignment and simulate the work of a reporter.

Students raved about their experience in this program:

“Kidcasters was a fun and educational unit and I learned a lot from it. I would like to thank Lisa, the school and my LA teacher Ms. St Amour, for bringing me this amazing experience.”
-Leo

“It was pretty cool that we got to see and talk to Lisa Bowes from CTV because she gave us a t-shirt, took us on a field trip to Father David Bower Arena, and we got to interview Carla McLeod, so that was pretty cool.”
- Tim

“I liked talking to Carla McLeod she was kind of neat. She was in the Olympics.  I think the Olympics are cool. I was supposed to ask her about music, I tried to ask her questions that were not just one word answers.  This way when you’re doing your stand up to the people, you won’t just run through a bunch of facts it might be something people want to listen to.”
- Mark

“I’ve been on TV before and I kinda knew what to do and stuff. It was new to me to interview someone. I didn’t know you couldn’t have yes or no questions.  You don’t want a short answer you want to have description in your answers.  We wanted bigger answers.

This is a bit different because it feels better having a professional helping us.  Considering she is on big TV she can tell you what is good to do and what not to do.  She gave me advise about using skinny questions of yes and no.”
- Jordan

Click here to find out more about this great partnership and to see the latest ‘Kidcaster’ in action.

The Calgary Board of Education’s involvement with the Kidcasters program is facilitated through the CBE’s Corporate Partnerships Department.  For information on partnerships in the Calgary Board of Education, please visit http://www.cbe.ab.ca/partners/default.asp