Premiere Night at SHS

Students in Sharon High School’s Television Production Workshop class followed the Hollywood tradition of recognizing achievement in the arts by holding a Premiere Night Event on November 20, 2013. At the event, participants, students, parents and members of the high school community gathered at the high school library, which was decorated for the event with a red carpet and other Hollywood touches.  Eight Sharon High School graduates shared their stories about what it was like to go to high school during the decades from the 1950’s to the 1990’s. This event was also a time to showcase and  recognize the skill, talent and professionalism of the students in Mrs. Mary Ann Janosko’s Television Production Workshop class.

At the event, a small sample of each guest’s story was shown, the students shared their reflections about the experience of recording the interviews, and each participant received a DVD as a keepsake of the memories they had shared. After the videos were aired, everyone shared thoughts, ideas and refreshments. The Premiere Night event was funded by a grant from the Norfolk County Teacher’s Association. This was the fourth year that NCTA supported the recognition and celebration of student work at Sharon High School.

The theme of The Stories project this year was Sharon High School through the decades. The overall purpose of the project is to provide a forum for sharing and passing on thoughts, words and experiences. It is also an event that demonstrates that experiences, told face-to-face between individuals, can have a powerful, transformative effect on the students, the interviewees and the guests. In addition, the Stories Project is a way for the Television Production Workshop students to give something back to the Sharon community, which does so much to support education for its young people.

Sharon High School’s Stories Project is loosely modeled after a feature aired on National Public Radio, called Story Corps. Just as the Story Corps interviews are archived at the Library of Congress, Sharon’s Stories Project interviews are stored at the Sharon High School library, the Sharon Historical Society and the Sharon Public Library.

The guests who shared their stories included: Mrs. Peg Arguimbau, Mr. James Arguimbau, Mr. David Elson, Mr. Chuck Fazzio, Mrs. Deb Piazza, Mr. Craig Singer, Ms. Tirmizey and Ms. Weiner.

The students who produced this yearís event were Morgan Aronson, Eric Barth, Brandy Blaise, Eoghan Daly, Tyler Drisko, Nicholas Englander, Matthew Fields, Drew Gallagher, Matthew Kravitsky, Daniel Lee, Steven Levkoff, Shane McGrath, Jacob Rubin, Kyle Ruboy, Benjamin Schwarzschild and Ethan Whitney.