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Our Town

What is “Our Town?”

Posted by Charlie G on 02/18 at 10:32 PM

The “Our Town” programs on WPSU-TV are the only television programs that we air that are created by volunteers. We produce two different versions of the program, one that is open to all ages and one that is just for middle school students called “Our Town: The Kids’ Cut.” This year we worked with students in two communities, Somerset and St Marys. These middle school students completed their work in February and the programs aired in March.

When we produce a “Kids’ Cut” program the students not only select the topics to be covered, but also do all of the writing, videotaping, narration, and editing. It is a lot of hard work, but the students seem to love it. They just come alive when they are working on the project. Their supervising teachers also work very hard on the project. They say that working with all of the energetic kids is a little like herding cats.  I also like working with them because of their enthusiasm. The kids often don’t think that there is anything interesting in their towns, but as they start digging they discover all sorts of interesting things that they didn’t know about. We hope that you will tune in to see the shows. We are already looking ahead to next year. If you know of some schools that might be interested please let me know.

The regular “Our Town” series is also about to start production for a program that will air in June. Our Town Hollidaysburg will be our next program. We are always looking for suggestions for this series. If you have an idea for either series please let me know. When you write please tell me what makes your town special and also give me an idea of some of the interesting stories in your town. There are always lots of interesting stories about the people, places, and activities in every town. Whether you have a suggestion or just a question about the series I hope to hear from you.