Students in Michael Shea’s magnet audio/visual classes have been producing their own TV show since the spring of 2014, but one recent episode tackled an issue that is both timely and personal for many Reagan High School students: immigration reform.
Reagan’s student population is more than 80 percent Hispanic, and a number of pupils have parents, siblings, or other family members who are in the country illegally. Six different students—four boys and two girls—agreed to appear on camera in a segment that aired on March 13, 2015, to discuss how America’s current immigration policies have affected them and their families.
“In my middle school age, my Mom and my Dad got deported,” said one student. “I was practically on my own with my sister.”
“As a young kid, seeing your mother taken away,” said another, “it’s devastating.”
To see the full segment (about the first five minutes of the full broadcast) or to watch the entire episode, please visit the Reagan News Network’s Vimeo archive. HISD students and teachers can also find past episodes of the Reagan news broadcast on the PowerUp HUB.
Reagan is currently the only high school in the Houston area that offers an Apple-authorized professional certification program in film production.
“I’m real proud of our students,” said teacher Michael Shea. “We try to focus on topics that are real-world based and relative to Reagan. This was a labor of love.”
Immpressive video and to realize it was shot by the students is even more impressive. The segment on immigration is hard to watch when you put young faces to the problem. It was particularly difficult for me given my work in education in emergencies and generational security. Disruption is at the heart of all emergencies in education and disrupting the lives of children remain the centrifuge of our immigration policy. We can do better as a nation.