Last summer, journalism program adviser Jeanne Hanigan applied for a grant through the Puyallup Tribe Charity Trust. In September, Bellarmine received the $7100 grant and is now in the process of building its own broadcast program. The broadcast team (Max Bessler, Madeline Halvorson, Josh Hanigan, Julia Maher, Audrey Pentimonti and often assisted by Elle Ferreira) is working hard on their first set of videos, guided by Gray Media Productions owner Daniel Gray B’10.

Gray helps mentor the program, wanting to help, “…jumpstart the facet of the program and to really get the ball rolling.” Gray said, “I want to make it so the students are comfortable enough to pick up the equipment and, from start to finish, shoot a news video.” When asked about what would happen to the current print and online editions, he talked about wanted to integrate the two options and make them be able to promote each other.

The team has created an anti-bullying Public Service Announcement played in Community Periods in October, and a promotional video featured in November..

Junior Liesl Heston responded to the recent segments. “I personally enjoyed the school-wide anti-bullying campaign. I would like the program to include world issues to the Bellarmine niche.”

One of the biggest problems the team faces is when and where to show the videos to the student population. “As someone who doesn’t eat in the student center, I don’t like that school announcements only seem to be broadcast there. I would like a system where broadcasts were posted on multiple sources such as email, Moodle, as well as during lunch. That way students who don’t eat in the Campus Center can receive information but it also reaches people who don’t look for it,” explained Heston.

English teacher Shannon Casey said, “I would rather see more news than PSAs. I think that the team should focus on more student editorials and what the student body, in general, thinks about certain topics.”

Casey suggested things like the Bellarmine app and Moodle to push out the content, with students getting a notification when it’s available, mainly so that they could watch it on their own.

The new program still has a few things to work out, but is well on its way to being fully functional and ready to pump out new content.

Their most recent broadcast feature story, “A backstage look behind the musical and plays at Bellarmine,” is located at www.bellarminelion.com and on the Bellarmine Preparatory School YouTube channel.