A 20-year partnership between the WHAS Crusade for Children and St. Xavier High School’s Audio/Visual Club gave six teenage boys the opportunity to pull an all-nighter in service to the community June 6 and 7.
The student volunteers operated cameras for the telethon’s overnight broadcast from 10:30 p.m. until 6 a.m., the wee hours that helped the fundraiser reach its grand total of $6,235,132.
Equipped with headsets, the young volunteers were able to communicate with each other and WHAS11 staff from behind the cameras during the telethon’s live broadcast.
St. X students have been assisting with overnight production for the last two decades. An unprecedented double-overtime in the Stanley Cup finals on June 6 delayed the late-night coverage of this year’s telethon. The volunteers and employees of the station buzzed with anticipation as they waited for the hockey coverage to end and for the telethon to resume.
Once they went live, the boys shadowed the station’s seasoned employees and received technical feedback from the professionals through their headsets as they operated cameras.
In an interview before the Crusade, junior Jacob Dunbar said he enjoys being behind the camera and participating in the Crusade in a capacity other than “what the public sees.” He’s been a volunteer camera operator for the Crusade since his freshman year. He loves that it allows “more hands-on experience” in the field, he said.
Dunbar also said the opportunity to volunteer for an uplifting cause “warms my heart.” The Crusade for Children raises money each year to “support children with health care, educational, and emotional wellness needs through grants awarded to nonprofit agencies, schools, hospitals, and other organizations serving children throughout Kentucky and Southern Indiana,” according to whascrusade.org.
Asher Plichta, also a junior at St. X, said he appreciates the opportunity to be a part of what he referred to as “big news,” since the Crusade coverage reaches a much larger audience than the St. X morning newscasts, which he helps produce during the school year.
Recent St. X graduate Jayden Pacheco said the opportunity with WHAS shows the students who produce St. X’s WSTX morning show that “we’re running just like a professional organization does.” Their news production at school focuses on campus-related events, segments and announcements.
Between bouts of filming live telethon entertainment Saturday night, the students took studio tours led by WHAS employees, where they learned more about live broadcasting. They viewed old sets around the studio and visited the station’s control room.
Pacheco noted that doing production for the telethon helps the A/V Club members better understand professionalism and can even set them up for potential internships.
