Havre High School students produce TV commercials
Susan McDaniel Havre Daily News smcdaniel@havredailynews.com
Lights, camera, snapshots of success. Four Havre High School media students are spending this school year creating television commercials that promote Havre Public Schools, gaining experience they can use after they graduate. HHS seniors Molly Proctor, Laura Lovo, Ryan Keeley and Nathan Cichosz have been working on the project since the beginning of the school year. Proctor and Lovo serve as co-directors and Keeley and Cichosc handle the lighting and videography. All four are students in media production classes taught by Havre High business teacher Vicki Proctor. “These commercials are just as good as anything that you see on television,” Proctor said. Under Proctor’s guidance, the students have produced and created two sets of four commercials. The commercials can be seen 77 times a day on local television stations Turner, Lifetime, Fox and ESPN. The commercials, called “Snapshots of Success” were created as a result of goals set in the 2005-2006 Havre Public Schools District Work Plan and are a collaborative project with Bresnan Communications, Beartooth Television Network and Havre Public Schools. The topic of the first set of commercials was the Havre Public Schools reading program. These commercials show the reading program from the viewpoint of a student, a teacher, a principal and the director of the program. Each ends with the same words and a telephone number followed by the new Havre Public School’s logo which was created as another portion of the same district work plan. The second set of commercials, which are scheduled to start airing in April, fall under the topic of another work plan project. Called Infinite Campus, the HPS web site has updated the student information system that parents can access. This password- protected portion of the web site called Parent Portal allows a parent access to their students’ records, classes and lunch accounts. These commercials will feature a mother appearing at different times during Her son’s day at school and end with the words, “Infinite campus, it is not as good as being there, but it is as close as we can get. Access your Parent Portal account by calling 265-4356.” “And then we have two more story board items that will come out in April, May and might even leak into June a little bit, after the school year is up,” said Superintendent Kirk Miller. “Those two areas are technology in Havre Public Schools that will focus on four different technology things that are going on in classrooms or with activities in our schools and then the last will be a focus on this years District Educational Work plan, which has 16 projects in it.” The commercials had their beginnings about two years ago when the superintendent of schools office applied for and received a small grant from the Gates Foundation. The grant provided access to an educational consultant that was dealing with technology and the uses of technology in schools. And secondly, they worked with an advertising consultant that showed them ways they could help the public understand what the school systems values and goals for the children were. The project is part of the District Work Plan for 2005-06 called Formulating An Effective Communications Strategies for Our Exemplary School. The Havre Board of Trustees created a project team to figure out ways that the schools could have more effective communications with the public, both internally and externally. The project team, made up of members Kirk Miller and Dennis Parman, co-project team leaders, Jeff Blessum, JC Ervin, Brenda Evans, Leslie Hanson, Teresa Miller, Kathie Newell, Peggy Safley, Shelley Southworth, Scott Strobel, Dusty Toth and Ginger Zanto met with the consultants provided by the grant in December 2005. Based on the recommendations from the consultants, the project team created a plan to make changes within the print media, web based media, broadcast journalism, radio media, and signage. The project team presented their plan to the board of trustees in May 2006 and the board approved of the recommendations. The project team also created a new logo for Havre Public Schools and recommended that the Blue Pony be copyrighted. “That is the brand that was worked on by the committee,” Miller said of the logo that appears at the end of each commercial. “So everything you see, our signage on the buildings, everything all ties together. So that when you drive up to one of our buildings or you enter one of our buildings you know that it belongs to our tradition of excellence and we are all part of the same community.” According to Miller the recommendations to the board included:
A new HPS Blue Pony logo with the “Tradition of Excellence” motto and the words Havre Public Schools on it
Copyright of the Blue Pony logo,
Prepare TV ads through Bresnan, outlining “Snapshots of Success” prepared by HHS students,
Prepare radio ads outlining “Employees Making a Difference” prepared by HHS students,
Prepare newspaper 10-Day Calendar each Friday called “HPS Happenings.” HPS Happenings to be created by HHS students,
Weather proof signage for each building with blue Pony logo on the sign,
Web site address to be placed on the Bus Garage sign with the building address and phone number on all signs, and
Parent Card with web address and school calendar to be sent home with parents/students at registration.
“All the new signs on the schools were part of this project also,” Miller said. “They went up in the fall of the year. The goal of the project was to make a better product for our community to interface with, in the manner that we really are. We aren’t a cold organization, we are a kid organization and we try to do good things for kids.” Although the television commercials are just a small part of the overall project, they occupy a large part in the lives of the four students who create them. They provide an unforgettable learning experience that they can take into the future. “I think it was eye opening,” Molly Proctor said. “I used to think a thirty second commercial wouldn’t take anything to shoot. But it takes a lot of dedication and effort, and realizing what goes on behind the scenes changed my mind about how commercials are made.” The superintendent said he welcomes feedback from the community on any of the radio or television ads that are airing. He summed up his feelings about the project this way, “I guess what I am happiest about in the whole thing is the fact that students have developed a vision for what working in television is like. We are likely to have some kids pretty well prepared to go on to a college career or right into the work world because they have the kind of background skills to do this kind of work. They have worked with the technology required and they have worked with the people in the business that speak that language.” Not only did the students learn practical matters, making the commercials allowed their creative talents to shine through as well. “I was pretty excited that one of the commercials I shot was on TV,” Keeley said. “My favorite part is when we actually start shooting. I feel like when the camera is actually rolling is when I am creating.”
