My name is Anne Kocher and I started as a news reporter in WACS News filming in the halls with Peyton Zelasko as well as video that were assigned to me like the annual homecoming powderpuff game or the Unyts blood drives. When my class changed to just the morning show, I was promoted to associate producer along side Tim Hoy and Dylan Kiener. Then I eventually became an assistant producer in place of Tim Hoy. As producer, I checked my classmates’ emails when they needed to contact teachers or other authority figures in the district. I read through the emails for grammatical errors and to make sure each one was professional and thorough. I also was the coordinator for all of the interviews that came into WACS News. My job was to email dates, times, and the questions that would be asked in that specific interview. On filming days in the studio, I was either solo or helping along side Dylan in the media room, filming our anchors for each episode as well as tips with Peyton, Brookertainment, and Dear Abby. Dylan and I were in charge of making sure the camera angles were set and communicating with the anchors throughout the episode. After I graduate, I plan on attending Canisius College to major in Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation also known as the ABEC program with a minor in zoology. I will be studying to become a wildlife biologist and hope to study abroad as well while earning my master’s degree. As my senior year was coming and I was making my schedule for my last year of high school, I chose to enroll in WACS News because of the class from the previous year. I always watched the promos and variety of comical videos from WACS News with some of my fellow classmates and it seemed like a fun time to be a part of. When I joined the class, I realized how much work it took to put an episode together. The producers and anchors had to work hard to make sure everything was always on time and good quality. However, they always seemed like they were having fun while doing it.

At the beginning of the school year, I was just a news reporter along side most of my classmates. I started off by creating and editing a variety of videos. Some of my videos included AP World History Pumpkins with Mrs. Kornacki. This video was about the students in AP World designing pumpkins and each pumpkin was designed with symbols or significant people from a religion. For a while, I did in the halls videos with one of my fellow classmates, Peyton Zelasko. We asked a variety of questions from “when do you think it is an appropriate time to listen to Christmas music?” to a survey on how much people know about blood and organ donation. Peyton and I had a lot of fun while filming and I edited most of them. Another type of story I did, was promos. My favorite promo I created this year was for the badminton tournament where I filmed several students celebrating whenever they got a point in their match. Since I became a producer, I stopped getting assigned stories so I can’t really say my video editing or iMovie skills have gotten any better, but I can still create a pretty great video story.

As far as advice for upcoming students, I suggest that they do their stories each time you are assigned them because you will have to make them up and you will have twice the amount of work. If you do your work, you will have success as well as a lot of fun in WACS News. When I became producer, I had to learn how to work everything in the media room, which was the toughest part of my year. I wasn’t really taught anything in that area, so I taught myself.

Throughout the class year, my communication skills have become stronger than ever. WACS News has been a service for this school because it gives everyone a good laugh once in a while, as well as informative news on important things going on in the school. WACS News provides solid information on what goes on in the community. For example, we did a story on the four different propositions in the school budget. The episode turned out so well, that it was played on TVs in the lobby while people were coming in to vote.

Overall, I enjoyed WACS News. There were some bumps and bruises along the way, but the class was a lot of fun to be involved with. However, I’m afraid that I’m not too sad to leave the class. I’m ready to graduate.