Stewart Middle School students are producing their own podcasts and videos with new 
recording equipment funded by a Classroom Impact Grant from the Douglas County Education Foundation.
The new studio area in the media center includes cameras, microphones, professional lighting and green screens.
Media Specialist Heather Deal wrote the grant to support Stewart's School Improvement Plan, focusing on student engagement, collaboration and career readiness.
"These resources allow students to demonstrate learning in creative ways while developing communication, collaboration, and technical skills that directly connect to future college and career pathways," Deal said.
She thanked the Douglas County Education Foundation and its donors for making the project possible.
Classes are already using the new equipment to create video study guides, student-led newscasts and highlight school events and initiatives. When creating the videos and podcasts, students take on roles that match their strengths: writing scripts, reading on camera or for a podcast or running the cameras and other equipment.
The space has also opened doors for authentic inclusion, allowing ESOL students to record content in their native languages, ensuring all voices are represented and valued.
"For non-English speaking students, it gives them something that parents can listen to and understand," said science teacher Vincent Warner, adding that those parents can then quiz their children.
Students in Warner's class produced videos and podcasts earlier this week that they will use as
study guides. Warner said the students can upload the guides to their phones to watch or listen to at home.
Warner's students all agreed that the podcast and video study guides are helping them learn better.
"When you have a group of people sharing about the same topic, you keep that study guide in your brain," said Giovanni Floyd, a student in Warner's class. "So when it comes time for a big test, like the CA or even the GMAS, you understand it really well."
Another student, Zoe Sierra, added that the team aspect of working on the podcast helps increase her understanding of the things she's learning in class.
Deal and Warner also point out that in addition to learning about core areas like science, the equipment also gives the students technical skills that could one day become careers.
"This could be a career that some of them have in the next eight years," Warner said. "When I was in school, that didn't seem possible. With this generation, they're turning jobs into things that they love, and if editing and shooting videos is something they're passionate about, this could be a stepping stone in a career for them."