Fifteen students in Mount Vernon High School’s media marketing class are submitting a video to CNN for airing on that network’s “Student News” show.
The school partners with CNN, and students have received technical support from network staff throughout the year. “We are one of their student bureaus,” said Terry McConnell, the head librarian at Mount Vernon High School. “The professionals at CNN have been teaching students about producing news videos and other aspects of preparing pieces for television.”
The student bureaus are designed to help high-school and college students learn more about television news production. Students in the bureaus have an idea, submit a script, modify the script in accordance with direction from CNN and then produce a two- to three-minute video. That video is then submitted to CNN for possible use on the student news program that airs each weekday morning at 4:30.
“Our idea was approved, our script was approved and now we are finishing the video,” McConnell said. “It’s up to CNN whether they air the piece or not, but we are hopeful.”
THE PIECE IS about prejudice against people of Islamic faith since Sept. 11. Media marketing students interviewed 35 students at Mount Vernon High School to try to determine whether there is any type of prejudice at the high school, which is one of the more diverse schools in Fairfax County. American Indian/Alaskan Natives comprise .3 percent of the student population; Asian/Pacific Islanders, 8.2 percent; Hispanic students, 16.1 percent; black, 34.7 percent; multiracial, 2.4 percent; undesignated, .2 percent; and white, 38 percent.
“We learned that, fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any prejudice against students of the Islamic faith here at Mount Vernon,” McConnell said.
Of the 35 students surveyed, 71 percent said that they harbored no prejudice against those of the Islamic faith.
“We also interviewed a student who is of the Islamic faith,” McConnell said. “She told us that she feels quite comfortable here.”
The video will be finished in the next few days, and the students will submit it to CNN. “We plan to do other projects,” McConnell said. “This year we only worked with 15 students. Next year we plan to expand the program and include other classes.”