Every 8th period, the KNN Morning Show meets in room 112 to script, film and edit content for their news broadcast. The Knight News Network morning show airs once a week with segments providing news and entertainment for Robinson’s students. However, teachers have neglected to show the student-run network during their homeroom periods, and as a result, some students have never seen or even heard of the KNN.

Robinson has a group of telecommunications electives including journalism 1, newspaper, yearbook, tv production and broadcasting. These classes meet daily and create content in that respective field for a grade. In television broadcasting, students learn how to work with cameras and film technology as well as editing tools to create videos for the network. The students in broadcasting work hard to provide these weekly news updates and they aren’t being recognized.

Homeroom meets for 15 minutes every Wednesday. In this time there is no set curriculum that would prevent the show from playing. With an average run time of five minutes, the KNN morning show would only take a third of the homeroom period. Students would still have approximately 10 minutes of homeroom after watching the morning show. There is no reason that it should be this overlooked. There needs to be more care for the morning show.

Students can ask and remind teachers about the morning show and teachers can set reminders to play the morning show in homeroom. The importance of playing the morning show is not to add to the number of views, but to show support for the broadcasting class.

The weekly shows can interest students to view what tv broadcasting looks like, and give broadcast students recognition and a chance to display the work they do. Classes like tv broadcasting can inspire students and give them a possible career path. The world is filled with news and media and showing the KNN morning show—a student-run network—provides a chance for students to learn about and explore the world of journalism.

Supporting student’s passions is important and I shouldn’t have to argue that point. If student’s show an interest and it has no support, it is harder to foster and develop that interest into a passion. The students in broadcasting may say it’s no big deal if asked, but I know when people read the newspaper and tell me they enjoyed it, it fills me with pride knowing people see the work the staff and I put into creating our stories.

The broadcasting class is also a fun learning opportunity to engage in a different kind of education outside of the common core. If these classes are not broadcasted as an option, (pun intended) then students won’t get involved. When the news source is unavailable, they are missing the news and the source.

The students who film the morning show will continue to develop their skills within the class whether people watch it or not. Journalism—while it aims to inform and spread news—is just as much a passion as it can be a service. Showing support simply lets your peers know that you see them and you care about the work they do. This can be said about any creative elective. Art students, orchestra students, band students, theatre students, etc.—they all work hard to create content they are proud of, and they deserve to be recognized.

The morning show airs for five minutes during homeroom every Wednesday and offers an update on everything Robinson high school. the network gives sports recaps, information on all upcoming school events and even the lunch menu for the week. Watching the KNN is as simple as clicking the link and pressing play.