In the fall of 2022, Tony Merlo stared at a blank canvas and imagined the possibilities. Fast forward one year later, and he’s incredibly impressed by what students in his fledgling video production class at Lapeer High School have been able to accomplish. 

“The first few months were a lot of touch and go, but we settled on some really good ideas and started to grow what we are doing,” Merlo said. “The biggest challenges at first were just knowing how to use what we had and how to make it the best it could be.”

The video production course at LHS was made possible thanks to a generous donation by the Lapeer Optimists, an organization with a long history of support for our schools.

“We knew that we had a major need in this area, and the Optimists stepped up with the seed funds to get us going,” said LHS Principal Doug Lindsay. “Now the program has become an integral part of our school culture.”

Merlo said that, once they had acquired the technology to hit the ground running, the first major need of the building that was addressed was the old-school PA announcements. They figured announcements presented in video form with student reporters would be more fun and engaging for students and staff – and they were right.

“Once we learned how to use what we had, we really started to dive into the different skills we could teach our students,” he said. “The next step was to see how far we could take it to make it the best it could be.”

Building Skills

Like so many other endeavors, the process of creating and publishing content requires a myriad of skills to arrive at the best results. 

“This is a course that requires significant time management, project planning and collaboration,” Merlo said. “Being able to balance a schedule and plan out what needs to be done are critical skills that our students are using on a daily basis.”

In addition to daily announcements, students have produced videos on numerous topics relevant to daily life at LHS. 

“I enjoy filming the announcements the most because we work together and have a lot of fun,” said LHS junior Sarah Dosch. “We also get a lot of creative freedom, so we make them as fun as possible.” 

This creative freedom was something that also appealed to senior Dominic Englehardt, and video production fit the bill. 

“I enjoy working with and being part of a team, being able to create useful videos for our school,” he said.  “This gives me a sense of making a positive difference in a cool and relatable format. I also enjoy working with Mr. Merlo as he makes this class an excellent opportunity for all of us to show off our creativity and personalities. We really appreciate his trust in us and he is an excellent leader and instructor for us.”

Mr. Merlo’s trust in the students is well-founded, he will tell you, as he has had a front-row seat since day one.  

“It’s awesome being able to see how they grow throughout the year,” Merlo said. “I enjoy watching them attacking and figuring out different challenges that pop up.”

Merlo said that, now that he has more than a year under his belt, he has seen growth in the quality of the productions and the speed at which they can produce content.

“We are able to be more creative and effective at the same time,” he said. “This has really helped us to expand what we’ve been able to do.”

The Future

Moving forward, the major goal of the program is to broadcast live school events, including sports and fine arts. 

“That would be something really cool for us to be able to point to and a great point of pride for us,” he said.  

In the interim, students have begun the process of filming live events, editing and publishing – most recently a basketball doubleheader, with more events to come. 

Dominic says this would provide another opportunity to compete against other schools that are producing live content.

“That’s the next step,” he said. “First compare and then really compete with Davison (DTV).”

For more information on our video production program, contact Tony Merlo at Anthony.Merlo@LapeerSchools.org.