Seeing the Future
BRIGANTINE COMMUNITY SCHOOL IS LEANING INTO THE FUTURE WITH NEW PODCASTS, ITS SEASONED TV STATION, AND YOUTUBE CHANNEL, GIVING STUDENTS PRACTICAL (AND FUN) EXPERIENCES TO BUILD REAL WORLD SKILLS AND EXPAND THEIR CREATIVITY
text STEF GODFREY // photos KELLY AND CRAIG PHOTOGRAPHY
Artist Andy Warhol said in the future everyone will get their 15 minutes of fame. At Brigantine Community School – the future is now. With their developing podcasts, seasoned television station and YouTube channel, many students are putting themselves in front of an audience creating custom content for viewers and listeners of all ages. And becoming at least school famous for now.
Exposing students to cutting edge technology and today’s communication and work trends is nothing new for Brigantine Community School principal and superintendent Glenn Robbins. Under his leadership, the school has a functioning e-sports arena, green room, and podcasting room, where students can develop skills both social and professional and to simply, have fun with their peers. They also have new classes in cyber security and AI for the eighth grade. Artificial intelligence being one of the buzziest trends around.
“English class is using AI. They use it to gather quick facts to build their argument or story or whatever it is they are writing. They have to cross reference and make sure it’s cited. It’s interesting because this is where we are now. What’s it going to be next year or the following year,” questioned Glenn.
This year, the newest thing is podcasts.
“We have several podcasting groups. A sixth grade one that’s called Fresco, it’s all about new video games and new movies and so forth,” said Glenn. “In eighth grade we have the Play By Play podcast. The boys talk about all sports around the country. They’ve interviewed three Super Bowl champions already; Two Giants players and a Patriots player who lives here. Then in seventh grade, we have three young ladies who do Powered Up Podcast, which is all about female empowerment and female leadership. That one has really taken off. Then we have a second grade teacher who does an interview with each one of his kids for the second grade podcast. The older students are doing everything in regard to it. They do storyboarding, questioning, editing, and all the electronic work. All right here.”
Older students are able to work on podcasting during two different parts of their schedule, Buc time (Brigantine Community School are the Buccaneers) and flex time. Each of these periods are non-graded, a chance for students to explore things they want to learn, or simply to get some fresh air.
“Sixth through Eighth grade have a flex period and a Buc time. It’s also recess time, so they can go outside and get fresh air or they can go upstairs and podcast, or they can work on the YouTube channel, or they can work on something else, some play e-sports at that time,” said Glenn. “They do this during flex time too.”
On the Play by Play podcast, the trio of boys who host are not only learning everything involved with the technical creation of the podcast, they are also cementing their social skills for adulthood, in an environment where they can relax.
“They talk about every Eagles game, Sixers game, and they sound like true professionals that you and I listen to on 97.3 ESPN. They work on the podcast during the day, but it’s during flex time which is ungraded. They don’t feel stifled by a rubric or a syllabus of some sort. They make it theirs, no extra pressure on them. Their grade is what the people listening have to say. They are trying to make it perfect for a much bigger world than one person getting a grade,” said Glenn. “I want them to be successful with soft skills, looks someone in eye, have a conversation. If we can teach these kids to be better networkers as they grow up, they can have a firm handshake and look someone in the eye, and ask deep inquiry questions, it makes them dive in and have a more impactful conversation. It’s empathy and compassion. It’s also for negotiations, it’s like perspective taking.”
Kelly Grimley is the digital arts teacher at Brigantine Community School, and runs the BCC and does the podcasting.
“This is my 25th year of teaching,” said Kelly.
Kelly’s enthusiasm for art and her students is contagious as she walks around the school’s green room and podcasting room. She took over the BCC program after it had stopped briefly.
“It started with the news, but then went into other segments,” explained Kelly. “The first I started was Caught Being Great. It gave the opportunity to catch kids being great in schools. They couldn’t wait to be on TV, and it was really fun.”
Each morning, the entire school tunes into the YouTube channel to hear the news read by honors-society students.
“The kids record the day before during their lunch or recess time. Brigantine Community School is our YouTube Channel. Every teacher has smart boards in their room, and they put it on,” said Kelly.
Next year, they are considering a change up to the news delivery.
“We’re going to have our flex kids do the news. I want my digital arts class to do the news for a grade. Everybody wants to be part of the news,” said Kelly.
Students can create their own segments too, like Leland, who loves music. He created a segment call “The Hook” where he plays a tune around the halls for other students and then they need to finish signing the lyrics.
“He said, ‘Mrs. Grimley, I record for my church, I’d like to learn a little bit about editing.’ Leland comes up every day during lunch. He has a crew that works with him. He goes out, finds music he likes, then he starts the song for a player, then they have to finish singing the part. The last one, we did a tribute to Toby Keith. Leland researched the music and found his favorite five and we did them,” Kelly said.
Another of Mrs. Grimley’s students Gavin, hosts Let’s Talk Books, a spinoff on Hooked on Books. Why? The answer according to Gavin is simple.
“I just wanted to talk about books and did that. I have too many books that I like,” said Gavin.
This sense of creative pride and positivity are a force around Mrs. Grimley and her students.
“I got very lucky, I can spread some positive message to these kids. I always thought the art room was where I would do it, but now I’m reaching so many more with this TV station,” Kelly said.
Though technology changes fast, what we can learn from it all hasn’t changed a bit. Social and professional skills, empathy, connection, and more are being fostered every day in the classrooms and specialty rooms at Brigantine Community School. They are leaping to the future, with lessons that are timeless.