Lights, Camera, Action! One might hear this phrase frequently throughout Fayette County after every middle and high school broadcast teacher in the school system has been awarded a $30,000 Education Sports Entertainment Networks grant which provides students with a variety of audio-video, technology and film equipment.

Teachers applied for the AVTF grant through ESE who partners with the Georgia Department of Education’s Career, Technology, and Agricultural Education (CTAE) program to support the implementation of Georgia’s AVTF instructional program and pathway courses.    

Director of CTAE Barbara M. Wall, says “We appreciate the Fayette County Public School system’s dedication to providing outstanding Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education experiences for its students.”

Fayette County schools offer students an Audio/Video Technology and Film pathway through the school system’s Career and Technical Education program which provides students the competitive advantage needed for college acceptance and/or entrance into the workforce.

The AVTF pathway teaches students all aspects of video production from pre-production, production, and post-production. Students in this pathway have the opportunity to participate in various types of broadcast/video production from events and commercials to mini-movies and documentaries.

The AVTF equipment includes multiple hard drives for storage, stereo headphones, a Sony camera, a tripod, a wireless mic kit, an LED light kit, Sony camcorders, etc. 

“We use the equipment every day! It is used for our production of our morning show. Students are fortunate to have this quality of equipment and software and use it not only for the morning show, but also as they learn about video production and create projects, contest entries and weekly features” says Rising Starr Middle’s video production teacher, Christopher Harper. 

In addition to setting up the equipment, ESE also provided teachers with two-year access to complementary 24/7 tech support, regional hands-on training, one-on-one virtual training and cloud access/training.  

Additionally, three broadcast teachers received another $30,000 AVTF grant after participating in the second annual Georgia Film Academy (GFA) teacher training program.

Patricia Coleman (Starr’s Mill High), Matthew White (Sandy Creek High) and Jamey Trask (Fayette County High) were among 20 other educators who were carefully selected to the program through an application process. 

During the two-week training program, teachers were exposed to a unique film industry experience at Pinewood Atlanta Studios, and received a nine-week curriculum to implement in the classroom that included lesson plans, projects, rubrics, etc. 

Teachers also received hands-on training with current industry equipment while having the opportunity to network with various film teachers and industry professionals.