By ENRIE AMEZCUA:
Finally embracing its journalism and communications focus, Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS) will be expanding to include a broadcast journalism program next school year.
“This will get us greater possibility for students to acquire real world skills for the 21st century job market,” said Principal Deborah Smith.
There are two grants being given to DPMHS, both sponsored by the Perkins Grant.
Magnet Coordinator Noreen Castellani and journalism teacher Adriana Chavira applied for two different journalism grants that add up to approximately $82,000.
The Perkins Grant is a federally funded act that supports Career Technical Education (CTE) programs for secondary and post-secondary students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
“It will help our school become what it was intended to be,” Castellani said.
Approximately $12,000 of the money will be used to expand the current journalism program. The class will receive scanners, SLR cameras and voice recorders.
DPMHS has already hired Regional Occupational Program teacher Mark Middlebrook to teach the video production class.
The rest of the grant will be used to purchase equipment for Middlebrook’s class. Some of the equipment purchases include Sony broadcast cameras, light kits, microphones and a mobile data studio.
Some students, such as junior Jade Bell will find the new classes useful for her aspiring future career as a talk and radio show host.
“It’s a great contribution to the school,” Bell said.
Last year, DPMHS received a $15,000 donation during a screening of the documentary “Addiction Incorporated” from the film’s director Charles Evans, Jr. The money currently sits in a donation account and is allocated for the school’s broadcast program, as well.
