It’s first period at Rocky Mountain Highschool, and most students are drowsily sitting in their first classes of the day, but while everyone else is busy waking up, the RMHS broadcasting class is in full swing.
At Rocky the morning announcements are delivered through a short video put together by the broadcasters, called the Bearcast. Every first period the broadcasters scramble to shoot, edit, and finalize the Bearcast. They send it out to the Teachers, who are then supposed to show it at the beginning of second period. At Rocky, classes are split into separate A-day and B-day blocks, meaning that there are two classes of broadcasters that alternate each day. “I think it’s a pretty good way to give announcements” says broadcaster Landon Kaup. Landon likes to try and add some entertainment and jokes to the announcements to make the Bearcast more fun. Landon is disappointed though as he says, “not all the teachers show it.” When asked what he thinks of his work, broadcaster Adyen Puckett says “I think its better than previous years, our group has been doing a lot of unique segments.” So, what does he think would make it better? “It would be nicer if everybody was on the same page, like A-day and B-day working together.” Both these broadcasters share the belief that most other students like what they have done with the Bearcast this semester.
So, what do the students really think about the Bearcast? When asked, one student, Brodie Pierson said plainly, “It kind of sucks.” This is a common response as another student, Ben A. said “Yeah it’s kind of mid, not going to lie.” There were other responses though, like Lucas Osterhout who laid it out with “B-day mid, A-day peak,” referring to the different groups of broadcasters and the quality of their work.
Overall, everyone seems to agree that the Bearcast is a better way to present announcements than over the intercom. With some students like Ben A. saying that even though he thinks its mid, he wishes that more of his second period teachers would actually show it. So, even though not everyone loves the Bearcast, most students would prefer it over intercom announcements, and most students agree that the Bearcast has room for improvement. Perhaps next semester we will see some improvement.
