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Moncton students keep school community informed with their own newscast

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MONCTON, N.B. -

Budding new broadcasters gave a behind-the-scenes view of Moncton's newest newscast. KWA News is produced by students in Grades 5 through 8 at Kingswood Academy Montessori School in the city's north end.

Production for the news show began earlier this year as a way to keep parents up-to-date with the happenings at the school, but the program quickly became a much bigger project.

Principal and teacher, Kristie Strunk, has been overseeing the project, but says the students have been the driving force behind the show.

"They've grown and developed to where it was a one-shot deal to start with and now they're practising and they're writing their scripts and their lines and thinking more about the organization as what needs to go with their stories," says Strunk.

Students take on all the roles of a typical newsroom; producing, editing, reporting, and anchoring.

Grade six student, Lubna Banglawla, has been the show's lead anchor. She says she doesn't mind the pressure of being in front of the camera.

"I don't get nervous with that because I know the script most of the time, I've practiced it," says Banglawla.

Students are tasked with finding their own stories and going out into the community to conduct interviews. It's a task Grade 6 student Liv Rinzler enjoys.

"Being a reporter is fun. It can sometimes be a little bit stressful because you're trying to talk really clear and not mess up your lines and sometimes you're like say you have to do this again and again but eventually, you get it and then you listen to it over and you think 'oh that sounds good, I want that one," says Rinzler.

The school recently received a financial grant dedicated to keeping students interested in school. Strunk says it allowed her to update the equipment used to create the newscast.

"We started out just recording it on the children's phones, tablets, or whatever, and now we've been able to purchase new equipment; the camera, the microphone, the green screen and take it to another step," said Strunk.

Rinzler says the upgrade has made a big difference in the quality of the show.

"It's awesome because you can see how much we've developed with the green screen, the camera, the filming, the voices, the sounds. You can see how much we've changed from the start to the finish," says Rinzler.

Thanks to the KWA newscast, some students have even expressed interest in a future career in the industry.

"I've really enjoyed it. This is our last one for the year, and we're going to continue next year which I think will be a lot of fun," says grade 7 student, Elanore MacPherson.

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