Sacred Heart students head to the big screen

Lights, camera, action! 

Students at Sacred Heart School in Troy — brimming with ideas — have become a vital part in helping record the school’s virtual morning announcements this year.

In the past, students would gather in the church before school for morning announcements and prayer. Since COVID-19, such large gatherings for the K-6 school weren’t permissible. Instead, Principal Amanda Goyer and the Sacred Heart facility began recording the morning announcements for the students to watch in their classrooms on Google Meets. 

Sacred Heart’s fifth/sixth-grade teacher, Britani Shambo, said that since her class had some ideas for the morning announcements, it seemed fitting that the students should get a chance to bring their ideas to life on the big screen, or more realistically, the computer screen.

Goyer added “it’s just amazing” to see the students’ enthusiasm and creativity for helping out.

The morning announcements were filmed in the fifth/sixth grades’ combined classroom in front of the school’s green screen. Students took turns reading the daily announcements and morning prayers while adding in their own touches such as video graphics, a quote of the day, a joke of the day and a birthday song.

Students filmed the morning announcements every day in October before class; Shambo helped with the recording and editing.

“It was really exciting; their faces just lit up,” Shambo said. “They were so proud of their work, and to be able to get it online and for students to be in it.”

The iPad and green screen used for the announcements were funded by a “Higher Powered Learning Grant” from the Albany Diocese for Sacred Heart’s STREAM program, a hands-on learning program focused on science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics.

Sacred Heart’s fourth-grade class read the announcements in November, third grade takes over in December, and so on until all grades have had a chance to participate. Sacred Heart’s announcements can be viewed by visiting youtube.com and searching “Heart to Heart Studios.”