FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It's Friday night at Sunnyside High School, but instead of sitting with friends at a football game, more than a dozen Sunnyside students are putting the game on local television.
"I'm not giving them a grade," Sunnyside Video Production Academy coordinator Katie McQuone said. "They're not getting paid, and they're spending from 2:30 in the afternoon until midnight running big cables and sweating all because they love it, because they love holding a camera. They want to be able to say they have that experience."
Fresno's Community Media Access Collaborative, or CMAC, partnered with Sunnyside High School's Video Production Academy to produce three high school football games earlier this month. CMAC staff was on-site for technical support and guidance, but the video crew was entirely made up of students.
"It could be pressuring, but at the same time it's really fun," Sunnyside senior Daisy Xiong said. "We have to follow all the action and then listen to the director at the same time for what to shoot. But it's a great experience."
"Honestly as yourself when you do it, you're not thinking about it," Sunnyside junior Cruz Gonzales said. "But when people come in and they're like, 'Wow you're like 16 running a full-on news van.' That's when it gets you and you realize colleges will love this."
So instead of trips to the concession stands, the kids were communicating by headsets placed on risers next to the sidelines, and dialing up instant replays in the production truck.
"We don't have desks in here," Xiong said of her classroom. "We have a table so we all get to talk and we get to go out of class and film things. We're not just stuck in a class working all the time on papers."
Video production on the field supplemented by news bulletins every day - even during lunch when time doesn't allow for them to be done during class. These Wildcats are getting invaluable hands-on experience, and some are even thinking about television or cinematic production as a potential career.
"There's more than just a grade," McQuone said. "And there's more than just the experience. It's getting to know people and maybe potentially getting money for it and just getting to learn more and be with their friends."
"I do want to go into the field, broadcast, mass media communications, stuff like that," Gonzales said with a smile. "So I feel like this does help me get way more experience than any other people at this level."
CMAC and Sunnyside Video Production Academy: A match made in heaven. Or Southeast Fresno.