Article
May 29, 2026
Written by Sydney Kern
Lights, Camera, Learning: Middle School Students Get a Taste of TV News
UNC’s Journalism and Media Studies program opened their studio to give local students hands-on television news production experience
As a class assignment during the spring semester, sixth-grade students at University Middle School in Greeley were digging deep to uncover answers to four important topics:
- Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) going to replace all jobs?
- Is the Colorado Measures of Academic Success (CMAS) test worth students’ stress?
- What will the plot be in the new Spider-Man: Brand New Day movie?
- And is everyone’s favorite squeezable fidget toy, the NEEDOH, too distracting for class?
The students came up with these four intriguing questions, and through their research, they wrote, produced, directed and delivered a newscast showcasing their results inside the University of Northern Colorado’s broadcast studio in Candelaria Hall.
“We brainstormed, and I told them, ‘Think about what you want to hear. What is a story that you would actually listen to,’” said Rob Schuler, the teacher who leads University Middle School’s Broadcasting class.
Turns out, NEEDOHs can easily cause chaos if they break inside the classroom, spilling slimy goo everywhere, or get thrown and stuck on the ceiling. AI, if used correctly, can support workers instead of pushing them out. The CMAS teaches students how to manage their time and helps schools identify learning gaps, but it also adds pressure to the students.
“It’s basically education chaos, with a purpose,” said anchor Elizabeth Broughton during the newscast.
And as for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, regardless of what happens in the movie, many will buy tickets to witness the blockbuster event.
This is the third time Schuler has brought his students into UNC’s broadcast studio to produce their newscast. He originally connected with Communications and Journalism Professor Shawn Montano to see if he could bring his students to watch a taping of the college newscast Bear News. However, Montano said he had a better idea: how about the students actively create a production under his guidance?
“I wanted the students to leave with an actual experience,” Montano said. “Most of these kids probably are not thinking about careers in journalism yet. A few of them didn’t even really know what journalism was. But getting them into a real studio environment, feeling the adrenaline of a live-style production, and realizing they can create something as a team — that sticks with them.”
For one of the news anchors, Raelyn Miller, she says she loves to perform and wants to be an actor when she’s older, so the experience of presenting the news in a big studio was exciting.
“I was nervous at first — it was really scary,” Miller said. “But once you get it down, it’s fun. It’s way different from what we get to do at school. There are bigger cameras, bigger lights, bigger everything.”
Among the 25 students, there were two groups of three anchors, including Miller, who talked about AI and the CMAS. The other three anchors presented on the new Spider-Man movie and fidget toys while everyone else helped write the stories, operated the cameras and managed the teleprompter and the studio.
Watching them walk into the studio, nervous, and leave excited and proud of what they created is the best part. – Shawn Montano
The class also put together six short podcasts using UNC’s equipment, so it was a busy, content-filled day. To help them get all their work done, UNC Journalism students volunteered their expertise.
“The college kids help my kids through the process, and they have been phenomenal,” Schuler said. “They break them out of their shell, especially because, for the anchors, they tend to be a little gun-shy at first.”
Montano says the experience is also beneficial for the UNC students.
“My students get to see what teaching and leadership look like in a real-world environment,” Montano said. “They help guide middle school students through the production process, but the younger students do the work. It becomes a hands-on learning environment where everyone collaborates to create something real.”
The hands-on learning experience included the pre-teens trying on headphones, pushing buttons on the video switcher to control the newscast, cueing up cameras, talking into microphones and collaborating with their peers and college students to tell the news.
“It’s been fun to see,” Schuler said. “Having a real studio and the podcast studio, it’s really piqued some of the kids’ interest and they think, ‘well maybe I do want to dabble in this,’”
“I love doing this,” added Montano.
“I’m a huge believer in project-based learning and experiential learning. Any chance I get to create an environment where students can actively participate instead of just observe, I’m all in. Watching them walk into the studio, nervous, and leave excited and proud of what they created is the best part.”
Schuler says he plans to continue this partnership with UNC in the next school year.
