(Left to right) Lincoln University President Ivory V. Nelson, Ph.D., joined Tara High School Journalism teacher Joseph Redmond June 23 when Redmond arrived with a truck to load broadcasting equipment donated by the university for use by Tara High students.

On June 23, Tara High School Journalism teacher Joseph Redmond was on the road after a stop at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.  Loaded in his truck was about $11,000 worth of television and radio broadcasting equipment donated by the university to help Tara High start up its own student-run stations.

Tara High Principal Luanne Estess said she and Redmond want to create a broadcasting center, starting out slowly by creating a world-class radio station and studio for student learning – just like the school used to have in the mid-‘70s through mid-‘80s.  The radio studio still exists on campus but has since been stripped of its out-of-date equipment.  For an FM signal licensing, equipment and labor, Redmond guesses the radio station could cost about $175,000 to get it up and running.  Funding also would be needed to develop a learning television and video editing suite and studio, as well as a film studio to be developed over a three-year period.  The center would be linked to the Journalism curriculum, as well.

“Our goal is to create a full range student media center at Tara High School.  Putting the radio station on the air is just the first step in the process,” Estess said.  “When it is all said and done, we intend to have a student-run TV operation and a computer platform that mimics the functions of Newsy.com.

“In addition, we plan to create a separate branch of student media that trains our youth to work on a motion picture set. Once operational, the Tara student media center will become one of the most innovative high school journalism programs in the nation and, as such, will provide colleges and universities with a steady stream of highly qualified young journalist for many years to come.” 

“Tara High is honored and humbled to have received this major equipment donation from Lincoln University,” Redmond said.  The equipment donated by the university stations, LU-TV (a closed circuit cable station) and WWLU-88.7 FM, will help the high school begin Webcasting in the fall.  Plans are for a television production facility at Tara High to be operational around Mardi Gras in 2012.  Ashley Sims, the Media manager at Lincoln University’s Mass Communications Center of Excellence, spearheaded this effort. 

In the 1970s through the early 1980s, Tara High School was home to a thriving radio station. Federal cuts to the arts in education spelled the end of the station in 1982. Upon its return, the station’s mission statement will be to educate, entertain and preserve Louisiana’s unique musical heritage. In addition, the planners intend to use Tara students as the primary source of broadcast talent.  Putting the radio station back on the air is just the first step in the process. When it is all said and done, Tara Student Media intends to operate a student-run TV, video and news photography operation in addition to a computer platform that mimics the functions of Newsy.com.

“The overall caliber of the individual produced by this program in conjunction the high tech skill sets they will develop while at Tara will make them precious commodities on both the university and employment futures markets,” Redmond said. “Thus, this deepening of the Baton Rouge electronic age talent pool could attract new high tech communication, motion picture, Internet and entertainment ventures to the area.  Currently, Tara Student Media staffers are seeking local business and community leaders to become partners and help fund and get this program off the ground.”

Established in 1854, Lincoln University is the country's first historically Black university. As one of the most prestigious institutions in the history of education in America, Lincoln University combines the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate core curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the needs of those living in a highly technological and global society. 
 
Internationally recognized for preparing learners and producing world-class leaders in their fields, the University includes among its notable alumni U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, poet Langston Hughes, actor Roscoe Lee Brown, and Lillian Fishburne, the first African-American female rear admiral in the U.S. Navy.

For more information, contact Estess (lestess@ebrschools.org) or Redmond at Tara High School, (225) 927-6100, or Lincoln University Media Manager Ashley Sims at (484) 365-7876 or asims@lincoln.edu.