Norwood High School’s Broadcast TV program continues to be a huge part of the school’s community, while also positively impacting students’ lives. Starting multiple decades ago, two main Norwood staff members have continued to share their knowledge of the broadcasting world with new incoming students.
Pamela Schnatterly is the broadcast television and digital media teacher and NHSTV advisor. She shared that while she was growing up, she was constantly told that her dreams in the acting and performing world wouldn’t be “practical.” She now shares her expertise with her students, who, according to Shnatterly, “do what [they] can’t.”
Schnatterly, along with Jack Tolman, who is the director of video technology for the whole school department, runs NHS’s morning newscast, which is live every morning on Norwood Community Media.
“I feel like this is the longest-running live high school newscast in New England, maybe even in the East Coast,” saidTolman.
This broadcast was started before Tolman began working here, which was 35 years ago. It targets current high school students in grades 10 through 12 and invites them to come into school early to create these segments, which allow viewers to see current sports events, daily weather updates, and notices about upcoming events around NHS.
With Tolman’s and Schnatterly’s background in real-world settings, they have always been improving the way they teach and what they share with their students. Schnatterly had been working in New York City after college, where she was fully focused on becoming an actress and was hoping and dreaming of being seen by one person who would give her the role in the spotlight. She worked hard, waiting tables, working for a consulting firm, and teaching small acting classes with her degrees in educational and broadcast journalism.
“I teach four levels of television. We have been introduced to TV. We have two intermediate television productions and then two levels of advanced TV. There’s an advanced three, which is usually mostly juniors, and then an advanced four slash internship, which is seniors,” Schnatterly explained.
The morning show and other TV productions heavily rely on these students who are enrolled in these courses. Advanced students who are juniors and higher create a considerable amount of content for specific shows like “Pregame Live” and “Mustang Magazine.” These either take place before live sporting events or during other live streams NCM airs.
Sophomore Maureen Larkee appreciates the opportunity. “Even though it’s a challenge to put yourself in front of the whole school, it is an awesome opportunity that I am lucky to have,” she said.
Larkee has recently become a new face on the Mustang Morning Show. She is one of many sophomores who have gotten a chance to become a large part of the NHS TV Program.
Schnatterly also adds, “We’re starting a new show called Update after Dark, which isn’t really a new show. It’s an old show we are breathing new life into”.
“Update after Dark” will be mostly run by the seniors in these top classes. These students will have large leadership roles and control over what gets produced. All projects and pieces of work depict the school and what is reflected.
The program is constantly trying to come up with new ideas that will entertain the entire town while showing off the skills and knowledge these teachers are constantly feeding into the kids.
Tolman gives credit for the success and growth of the program to the students and knows that without their dedication, they wouldn’t be able to continue expanding each year.
“I managed the television studio in the old school, and it was just a very basic studio, and it has grown to what it is now,” he said.
Many of these students have dreams of continuing their education at college and beyond.
Junior Sophie Brogadir, who is in the advanced program, has big plans.
“My dreams for college and after in the TV world are to major in broadcast television or sports broadcasting, and then have a career either doing sideline reporting or sports PR,” she said.
She loves the class due to the hands-on experience and the interactions she has been able to be a part of with professionals.
Shnatterly supports all of her students ‘ journeys. She wants to watch students break down walls and have a creative outlet to feel successful.
“When I was in high school, I was told everything I wanted to do: theater or TV or make phones or be on Broadway, I couldn’t do. It wasn’t practical or ‘you don’t have the right look for Broadway’ or you know my parents weren’t behind me, guidance counselors weren’t behind me… they just wanted the best for me. But at one point, I just said ‘yes, I will,’ Shnatterly said.
“No one does it like we do!” said Tolman, and that is what makes Norwood’s news program “unlike anything else”.
