Catch ‘The Wave’: Hilton High School students put on newscast

HILTON, N.Y. – The first day back in Hilton, high school students met their teachers, ate in the cafeteria again, and, if they’re part of “The Wave,” put on a full five-minute morning newscast.

“Good morning Hilton High. Today is September, 6, 2023. It’s a ‘J’ day and the first day of school. I’m Kyle Cunningham and I’m Max Meagher. Here are your morning announcements.”

For Matt Miller’s broadcast media class, work begins as soon as they set foot in the classroom.

“At Hilton, we have the morning announcements, and it’s literally a livestream broadcast where kids are delivering the news from teachers and clubs as well as some of the videos that they make in the class,” he said.

The students do every job – from running the sound to editing the videos to working the livestream.

“I was teleprompting so I get to go over all the lines with everybody at their jobs,” junior Jade Strucker said.

This is Jade’s second year in the studio. Junior Briella Greczyn is also a returner.

“I love it. It’s something that I was excited to go to school every day, and I feel like it makes me more school-spirited because I get to be like one of like the faces of the school in the morning. And I just loved it so much I had to take it again,” she said.

On the first day, the class had a few quick practice rounds.

“The rundown is going to be [Pledge of Allegiance], the anchors have a few announcements, it goes over to Tanner,” Miller said.

And then they went live. With only a nine-second delay between their show and their audience of 1,400 kids, some were nervous.

Others, not so much.

Hailie Higgins, News10NBC: “So you just went on air and all of your peers at school saw it. How’s that make you feel?”

Max Meagher, Hilton senior: “Fine, I mean it’s like, uh, I guess it could be nerve-wracking in the sense that you mess up, it’s like… but, it’s alright. I enjoyed it.”

The best job for most kids – anchoring.

“My favorite job is anchoring just ’cause you’re the main part and everybody gets to see you first thing,” Jade said.

“Definitely being an anchor just because you’re like the center of attention, the whole school sees you, and you get to say, ‘Good morning, Hilton High,'” Briella said.

The Wave’s newscasts can be watched here.