NNPS-TV

Newport News Public Schools TV and the Telecommunications Center

Telecom TV crew group

NNPS Telecom students and staff were back at the Hampton Coliseum after two years of outdoor graduations at Todd Stadium due to COVID-19 precautions.

The team livestreamed and video-recorded the five high school graduations Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12, as well as An Achievable Dream High School's on Thursday, June 9 (at the Ferguson Center).

The ceremonies will air on NNPS-TV Cox 47/Fios 17 during the summer.

Besides being livestreamed and recorded, Telecom's multi-cam video feed was displayed on the large video screens during the ceremonies.

Under the guidance of Telecom Supervisor Ray Price, who served as Producer/Director for most of the ceremonies, the student crew covered the events from the Coliseum and inside Telecom's remote video production truck parked behind the stage.

Telecom Instructor Carl Daniels, Jr. was Assistant Director and also directed two of the graduation productions. NNPS-TV Broadcast Engineer Mansoor Ahmed handled the engineering for the productions.

The crew included Telecom program alumni and current students. Brandon Hedgepeth, Collin Smalls, and Muriel Gamble, who are recent Telecom grads, were crew members for all three days of graduations.

camera operator
A Telecom camera operator on duty at the Hampton Coliseum.
Photo: Ray Price

First-year Telecom students Peniel Bejirond, Fantasee Carey, Jolyne Roldan, and Victor Soto rounded out the crew. They have served on the Telecom crew throughout the year, working on football game live broadcasts, Christopher Newport University's annual Holiday Happening concert, and CNU's graduation ceremonies.

Working the graduation productions is excellent training for Telecom students. Recording the high school graduations involves many workers in a wide variety of roles, from Stage Manager to Camera Operator to Technical Director. And since there are a number of ceremonies, TV production students can try different jobs.

Roldan, a junior at Heritage High, tried her hand at the Technical Director position.

"She did a heck of a job being TD for the first time," said Price.

NNPS-TV Cox 47/Verizon 17 will re-broadcast each high school graduation four times during the weeks of June 20 and July 11. The webstream may be seen online at nnpstv.com during the TV broadcast. There is also a live stream on the NNPS-TV Roku and Apple TV channels as well as on the NNPS-TV app.

The graduations were livestreamed on the student YouTube channel. Watch them on demand: youtube.com/nnpstelecom.

The graduation ceremonies can also be seen on video.nnpstv.com.

Heritage High School:

Monday, June 20, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Monday, July 11, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

An Achievable Dream:

Monday, June 20, 11 a.m. and 11 p.m. and Monday, July 11, 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Menchville High School:

Wednesday, June 22, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Tuesday, July 12, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.*

Warwick High School:

Thursday, June 23, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Wednesday, July 13, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Woodside High School:

Friday, June 24, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Thursday, July 14, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Denbigh High School:

Saturday, June 25, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and Friday, July 15, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

* There is a live broadcast of the NNPS School Board Meeting on Tuesday, June 21.