Eleven sixth grade students from College Park Elementary School brainstormed on subjects to feature on their College Park News video and decided the California drought was a hot topic.

That’s when they called on Irvine Ranch Water District to shed some light on the matter. The students drafted 10 questions and convened in the school library with their video cameras, a green screen, director’s chair and a representative from IRWD.

“We started doing this about six years ago,” said Julie Hicks, the school’s librarian. “The students talked about the drought and how it affects them.”

Hicks works with Nancy Dusenbury from the computer lab and groups of sixth graders are cycled through the program, so everyone gets a chance to participate. Filming takes place twice a month and the finished product is shown to the entire student body.

On this particular day, students Beth, Michael, Mikey, Ansel, Maximillian, Yuta, Mandy, Kiley, Deanna, Matthew and Nina were ready with their questions.

“Quiet on the set,” Director Mikey called, and gave the five-second countdown. “Action!”

“How much water does an average person need or use per day?” Deana asked.

“Why should we conserve water?” Beth asked.

“How else does our city get water?” Matthew asked.

And so on.

Everyone takes their turn operating the cameras, or sitting in the director’s chair. The script is projected onto a screen while another technician scrolls through it on the computer while the interview is being conducted. The next step is to edit the video for presentation.

Who knows, maybe there are some budding television journalists among the bunch. Hicks said one of her former students is now in high school in Taiwan and is doing a similar video program at his school.

More information on IRWD education programs and the drought is available on our website.