What’s recently happened?
There has been a lot going on at the Hammond Area Career Center (ACC). From the early childhood education class’ baby project to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) class preparing for clinicals, there is always something going on at the ACC.
“We have been getting ready for our clinicals that begin over break,” said Muskaaun Kaur, a student in the EMS program. “We have also been practicing skills like CPR and how to put someone on a stretcher so we can do those types of things if we need to and are prepared for real life situations that we could be facing. It also is good to just know these skills even if I wasn’t doing the program because it can help me save someone’s life.”
The criminal justice class made projects on different crimes and then presented those for their final grade of the semester.
“It was really fun to look up these different crimes and then present them to the class, I learned a lot,” said Michael Harris, a first year student in criminal justice.
Most students have just finished up the last of their assignments and taken finals for their classes while teachers graded finals and put in the final grades for the semester.
What’s coming up?
Holiday parties and finals are the next big things coming up with it being the last week of school before the long two week holiday break. The radio and TV class at ACC has been planning its party for weeks trying to get all the details just right and make sure that the end of this semester is memorable.
“I’m very excited for the party, it’s a good way to bring the class together and have fun right before the break. It also lets us relax and celebrate the hard work that we’ve been putting in all semester,” said Matthew Kowalzyck, a first year student in the radio/TV program. “With finals being done, it’s always good to just have some fun in school instead of constantly working on projects or studying.”
The class plans on having different types of food as well as doing a secret Santa to celebrate the end of a semester and calendar year. The students have done a lot of work, including making PSAs and making their own commercials.
“I’m excited for the party, but I don’t know what to expect from it,” said Greg Siuba, another first year student in the radio/TV program. “I’m in it for the fun and I think that it will go well.”
Staff spotlight:
Stephanie Reiser is the instructor of the radio/TV class at the ACC and she has been teaching it for several years now.
“Teaching the class is really fun for me,” Reiser said. “Having done public access television for a while, I really got into radio and TV and wanted to share it with students.”
Student spotlight:
Matthew Kowalcyzk is a first year student in the radio/TV program at ACC. He came to ACC to learn about editing videos.
“The radio/TV program really stood out to me in particular because editing videos is something that I want to learn more to do and possibly make a career out of,” Kowalcyzk said. “The class is really fun, and the people in the class are also really fun to be around. Mrs. Reiser is a really good teacher and I have learned a lot about how to edit videos and just make videos in general.”
He has also enjoyed the assignments he has had in the class, especially one in particular that allowed him to direct.
“My favorite part of the class has been the directing assignment we had at the end of the semester,” Kowalcyzk said. “It was fun because I got to lead a group and make sure something that I had in mind got made. It allowed me to be creative and just the leadership part was good for me. It also got me ready for next semester when I’ll be directing the news, so it was good practice for that.”
Kowalcyzk said he is looking forward to the audio part of second semester and making podcasts.
“Making podcasts is something that I’ve always been interested in and wanted to do so I am really excited to be able to do that,” he said.