By EMC3 Staff Writers

GALWAY–Have you been around long enough to remember how GTV began? It started with a dusty, old book room crowded with cleaning equipment and custodial supplies, and Mr. Ubriaco’s vision.  Thanks to the support of administration, highly motivated students, and Mr. Swietnicki, the former district facilities director, Mr. U’s GTV club has grown into a state-of-the-art studio run by students for students. Burnt Hills is currently developing a television station as well, and three teachers from the district (David Besozzi, Jim Hadcock, and Jennifer Wheeler) came to our studio on Monday for an information session with GTV staffers.

Graham Northup, GTV director and producer, explained, “I’ll admit that I was nervous to speak to them at first. I definitely did discover that this is a very complex system to describe in less than an hour.  I’m glad to see that other school districts are considering having some kind of AV club and that they’re using our set-up as a model.”

GTV’s assistant producer, sophomore Cody Izzo, was part of the crew who explained the inner workings of the studio. “Essentially I felt like it was an interesting experience because I got to step back and pretty much go over everything we do and realize that we do a lot. I felt like all of us gave them good information that will help them with their future experiences with their broadcasting.” Izzo added, “they are lucky because they can learn from the mistakes we made, from the experiences we’ve had. We have a lot of accumulated knowledge over all these years.”

After their time in the studio, CEIP intern, senior Brian Mothon gave the teachers a tour of Mr. Swain’s classroom, specifically the E-Way Store, the popcorn and coffee production center, the board room, and the photo studio. Mothon explained that support for GTV and EMC3 partially comes from the proceeds of the E-Way store sales. He also described the coffee table book project to them and discussed possibilities for publishing the book using iBook, thanks to a suggestion from Mr. Besozzi.  Mothon commented, “I thought it was really great that another school district would like to follow in the steps of what we are doing in Galway, and I was happy to explain it to them.”