A Student-run publication, Miege Weekly, gives seniors an opportunity to showcase their video production, writing and editing skills in bi-monthly videos. These videos and segments are presented to the student body and faculty during faith family time each week. The publication staff has expressed it promotes leadership skills and broadcasting skills as well as further community spirit in school.
Head executor and teacher, Katherine Fitzsimmons, oversees the process among the students and has administered it for the past two years since joining the school’s staff.
“It’s always changing and becoming something else,” Fitz-Simmons said. “It’s different in every phase from what Daniel [Sullivan] and Dory [Latenser] write on the script, to what she films, to what Evie [McBride] edits.”
According to Fitzsimmons, there are three head positions in the “tiers” of the program. First is head writer – Daniel Sullivan – who is in charge of writing most of the scripts and assigning who else is going to write them. Next is editor in chief – Eve McBride – lead editor on the projects who puts everything together and makes the final calls on the cuts. Finally is head director – Dory Latenser – leading camera shoots, blocking and overall footage.
“I’ve always wanted to do Miege Weekly since I first got here,” Latenser said. “Watching it throughout the
years, I have had ideas for it since freshman year.”
Following this are actors who are featured in episodes and help with editing and social media management. Alex Smith and Megan Ruf had their eyes on Miege weekly since freshman year and are news anchors who write and film segments on current school events.
Upon arrival in 2022, Fitzsimmons took over the program along with theater productions and acting and video production classes.
“I was in broadcasting class, newspaper and I did theater in high school, so I was very aware of how important it is to the students to have Miege Weekly,” Fitzsimmons said. “I honestly think there is a big jump in quality from last year this year. I think I have grown as a better manager and am more organized.”
Each year, Miege weekly has a themed intro with 2024’s being Total Drama Island. This video intro followed the same actions in the real TV show and was featured in the first and last episodes.
Each staff member has expressed that despite the challenges, the class is a highlight of their week with something new and exciting to work on.
“My favorite part about being on staff is how random it is,” senior Patrick Watson said. “You never know what you’re going to do when you walk in the classroom and do anything.”
According to Fitz-Simmons, logistics are difficult as they film during the school day, making it challenging to organize meetings with specific students or teachers for footage. The staff expressed how challenging release dates and keeping interest and humor throughout the whole school year is.
“The biggest challenge is grabbing people’s attention span,” Latenser said. “People’s attention spans are really bad now because everyone has ‘TikTok brain.’ If your skit is over a minute and a half long, you lose people, so it’s really hard to get to the point and get to it fast.”
After releasing an episode, the class comes together and meets as a unit to discuss current events such as prom, herd-related activities or sports games.
“We get our writers working while we have our other actors gathering props and costumes,” Latenser said. “Once the writers are done with general scripts, we have our cameraman take them out, put the videos together and then our editors finish up everything else.”
After releasing episodes, the staff meets, watches the episode over and discusses the revision process.
“A lot of us shoot after school or like during another class, so many people in Miege Weekly don’t know the segments besides me and Evie,” Latenser said. “So then it’s fun to watch them and see their raw reactions as it all comes together.”
According to the staff, the program has also been very sentimental and memorable as it is composed of all seniors.
“My favorite memory is when we did a skit where Danny locked us all in a room and he had to throw whipped cream at us,” senior Ava Martin said.
Latenser recalls her favorite memory taking footage of Mr. Keith drinking a raw egg and Mr. Hess playing “Hess” on the Shelf” during the Christmas season.
“Every single class, I think I have this overwhelming feeling of like, it’s just so awesome that we get to do this like during school,” Latenser said.
