Junior Reporter at KCRA
By Grace Valley Christian Center on Nov 2nd, 2015 04:30
The following article ran as a “Special to The Enterprise” and was written by Timothy Perry, a fifth grader at Grace Valley Christian Academy:
I looked around the large room and saw two huge light-green screens, many bright lights and unusual TV monitors. At the front of the room were two ornate desks. Impressive. Now I knew for certain this field trip would be better than I expected.
On Sept. 28, the Grace Valley Christian Academy fourth- and fifth-grade classes went to KCRA Channel 3 in Sacramento on a very exciting field trip!
After looking at the research center, we advanced to the studio to watch a live weather broadcast. Knowing that everybody watching TV could hear us, I felt like I couldn’t even breathe. After a newscaster talked about some breaking news, Eileen Javora gave a short weather update.
We then learned a pretty cool fact about the green screen: Anything that is the same color as it will be invisible on television. We took a light-green stool, the color of the screen, and it turned invisible on the monitor. Then, my classmate Abigail sat on the stool, but on the TV screen it looked like she was sitting on thin air! We all thought that was funny. But when Daniel, a fourth-grader, lay on the stool and pretended to fly like Superman, it wasn’t funny — it was hilarious!
Next, we went outside and saw a 525-foot-tall antenna, the tallest structure in Sacramento. I would love to climb that thing.
Afterward, we entered a dark control room where we could watch everything KCRA was broadcasting at that moment: news shows, sitcoms, talk shows, etc. There were three workers in the control room: the director, the producer and the technician. The producer asked for a volunteer to put on the head set. I raised my hand, and she picked me. Little did I know that I would keep the head set on and give Ms. Javora a cue before she started broadcasting, which the producer usually does.
The technician showed us more buttons, levers and switches than I could count, and many of them covered his desk. All of these controlled a huge screen at the front of the dark room, where we could watch all the broadcasts KCRA was doing at that time. It was very impressive.
I had expectations of this being an exciting field trip, but in reality it was one of those trips that is absolutely unbeatable!
Families interested in finding out more about Grace Valley Christian Academy are invited to the school’s monthly chapel service and Open House on Friday, November 6. The chapel service will be held at 8:30 am in the Grace Valley sanctuary and the Open House will begin at 9:15 am in the education building. Families can tour the K-8 school, see classes in session, meet with the principal, and get more information about the curriculum, which includes a sequential writing program, hands-on science at all grade levels, and challenging math courses. Call the school office (530.758.6590) to RSVP or to schedule a private tour.
