Old Colony Regional Technical Vocational High School's television broadcasting club is officially live.

The club, an idea brought to the school by Old Colony Superintendent Aaron Polansky, recently produced its first official television show, with the help of both Old Rochester Community Television (ORCTV) and LakeCam, Lakeville's local news provider.

The first show covered the school's Cosmetology department, discussing the school's training salon. Club members also interviewed senior Cosmetology students. Recent Cosmetology graduate (and current neuroscience student) Savannah Lopes explained how Old Colony had helped prepare her for college.

The club, overseen by business technology instructor Marsha Davenport, operates out of a small room—the size of a closet, really, Davenport said with a laugh—that used to be the office of Athletic Director Matt Trahan.

Davenport is assisted by Old Colony alumnus Norman L'Heureux, as well as ORCTV employee Brittany Hotte. L'Heureux is officially a videographer, but "I step in wherever needed," he said. "Anything to keep the club going."

Hotte has only been working with the club for a month, and says the club members arrived with an already-solid grasp on the technology needed to produce a TV show. "There's on-the-spot training here and there," she said, "but overall they're doing so well!"

Though the group has been meeting for the past eight months, it took until late January for the first TV spot to premier. "We were supposed to do an episode earlier," explained videographer Zach McMahon, "but there were some technical issues we had to fix."

Add to it that the group members only meet four days per month. Each show needs to be planned and ideas put forward; everything must be recorded. Then, the video clips edited and spliced together. The process of creating a show can take awhile.

"It's a learning curve," L'Heureux said. "The students are still just getting used to everything."

That's not to say the students aren't having some fun with their work.

"I love being on camera," joked newscaster Will DiDucca. "It's where I belong."

Video editors Erin Taylor and Kiera Perrman sometimes got a case of the giggles while editing out bloopers. One editing moment stuck out in Taylor's mind. "We'd done some testing shoots on our pep rally day," she said. "There were some very funny teachers with a lot of school spirit trying to rev up the kids."

Taylor said the broadcasting club has been useful in rounding out her education—she studies Graphic Design.

"Video media can be really useful in Graphic Design, but it's not necessarily something we focus on," she said. "It's nice to have that training if I ever want to use it."

L'Heureux admitted he gets a little green occasionally. "This is such a great opportunity for the students," he said. "I wish it had been here when I was here."

The show's next edition will focus on Old Colony's carpentry department, the broadcast students said. But, they added, there's no definite date of release quite yet.

"I can't wait," Hotte said. "Everyone's settling in and they're doing well. The second episode is going to be even better."

Check out the club's first show below! Video courtesy: Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School.