Messalonskee News
Messalonskee News anchor, Luke Davis, was a solo act Monday morning in the backroom of the media center as he prepared for the latest edition of the high school’s streamed news.
No other students from the Messalonskee News team were available at that hour. Instead, Davis, a sophomore, had to rely on Messalonskee assistant principal Nathan Davis (no relation) for technical support.
“Luke does it by himself until some of the group members get their [driver’s] licenses,” Nathan Davis said. “They’re taking the bus right now.”
Yep, a licensing complication.
Luke Davis, though, is not complaining. He doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty on the technical part of the news program, which is recorded and subsequently streamed to his fellow students every morning Monday through Friday at the high school.
“It’s fun,” Davis said. “I’m a fan of news anchoring and computer stuff.”
He also is a big fan of the $16,000 in grant money invested in the student-run news show.
Nathan Davis said Messalonskee principal, Scott Hallett, spearheaded the initiative that led to the debut of Messalonskee News last year.
“He wanted to do the program,” Davis said, “because all the big schools he has worked at in the South in the past have had them.”
The most visible addition to the new equipment purchased is a video screen that ultimately will feature four 49-inch screens mounted on the wall behind the Messalonskee News anchor.
Davis, the assistant principal, said the idea is to show footage from various Messalonskee sports events and performances so viewers are getting school information from both images and the anchors reading of the news.
Along with the enhanced technical hardware, which includes a more high-powered computer designed for video streaming, Davis said Messalonskee News is dedicated to limiting each edition of the News to no more than 4 minutes.
“My goal right now is we try to keep it well under that limit,” he said.
He added that Period 2, the period designated to share Messalonskee News to students, is 4 minutes longer than all other classes just to accommodate showing the program.
For now, the chief anchors – essentially the faces of Messalonskee News – are Luke Davis and senior, Nolan Cain, with a small staff helping with the technical aspects of the program.
Eventually, however, Nathan Davis hopes to generate enough interest and enthusiasm in Messalonskee News to expand the news team.
“My goal,” he said, “is to make this such an engaging thing that we need a teacher to teach it.” #WeAreRSU18 #EaglePrideMHS
