Six Palmerton Area High School students recently visited WFMZ-TV in Allentown as part of the BroadcastNow Contest, a broadcast journalism video contest that exposes students to careers in television, film, radio, and broadcasting.

Brandyn Miller, a digital media production teacher at the school, said that he is using the program to help his students develop their understanding of the type of environment these careers work in, as well as what a day-to-day schedule might look like.

“During this visit, the students hit the ground running and immediately started filming b-roll through the hallways and interviewing the news anchors,” Miller said. “We then toured the studios and sets, visited the weather center, met with various employees including directors, reporters, photographers, master controllers, IT, engineers, and news anchors.”

Students included Jared Reinhard, Maddy Wentz, Cody Walkowiak, Colby Chadwick, Karsten Rolappe, and Tyler Shollenberger.

They will use the information gathered from their visit, Miller said, to create four 30-second interviews with staff about various careers and a 3-minute overview of what it’s like to work at WFMZ.

Students will be submitting their videos for judging in March, and the videos will then be posted publicly to get views. Winners are determined by the quality of video and the viewers/distribution. Students will then attend the PA Broadcasters Association conference in May 2024 to find out the results.

“It was an amazing day that provided a wonderful opportunity and experience for our students,” Miller said.

The BroadcastNow Contest is sponsored by the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. The contest is open to high school students in Pennsylvania.

The videos will be eventually be available for view at https://broadcastnowpa.com/