Uniontown Area High School unveils new audiovisual production lab
Eric Morris | Herald-Standard
The entrance of the library at Uniontown Area High School bears a new name after Uniontown native John Gismondi donated funds to the school to install an audiovisual production lab in the space, complete with a video production room, sound studio and computer lab.
Eric Morris | Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School recently unveiled its new audiovisual production labs inside the library, including a video production room, pictured here. Uniontown native John Gismondi donated funds to the school to install the labs. In return, the school renamed the library the Gismondi Center for Media Arts.
Eric Morris | Herald-Standard
Cameras roll as Uniontown Area High School senior Connor DeMoss interviews John Gismondi in the school’s new video production room. Gismondi donated funds to the school to install the Gismondi Center for Media Arts, a set of audiovisual production labs in the library.
Seniors (from left) Tyler Beachy, Cole Waligura and Abigail Marinucci set up to film outside of Uniontown Area High School using production equipment bought through funds provided by Uniontown alum John Gismondi for an audiovisual production lab in the school's media center.
Eric Morris | Herald-Standard
Uniontown Area High School senior Justin Quinn, left, holds a microphone to capture an interview between classmate Connor DeMoss and Uniontown alum John Gismondi, whose donation to the school funded the creation of a new audiovisual production lab and portable production equipment.
When John Gismondi graduated from Uniontown High School in 1971, technology education as it’s known today wasn’t on the radar.
But in a 21st-century learning environment, technology has become a necessity in the classroom, and Gismondi wants to give students at Uniontown Area the opportunity to excel at it.
The media center at the high school now bears Gismondi’s name after the Uniontown graduate and practicing Pittsburgh attorney donated funds to the school to install a set of audiovisual production labs.
“The overwhelming desire on my part is just to help the kids in the Uniontown public school system. I want the students here to have confidence that they can compete with students from other districts in southwestern Pennsylvania,” said Gismondi.
The Gismondi Center for Media Arts houses three new state-of-the-art production spaces, including a video production room, a sound studio and a revamped computer lab.
The trio of labs will allow Uniontown students to become acclimated with technology that wasn’t previously available and use it to create media. It could provide students with a career path in media and technology, said Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky.
The video production lab, transformed from a small classroom, is now home to two professional video cameras, a teleprompter, lighting equipment, microphones, a green wall, a GoPro, a drone, a Mevo camera and a TriCaster production system for editing.
The equipment is portable for remote recording and on-site production outside of the lab, like at athletic or extracurricular events, or for class projects, said Mary Wallace, educational technology coordinator at Uniontown.
The sound studio, which was formerly a copy room, is equipped with a PreSonus sound board, sound panels and microphones.
Wallace said the district contacted West Virginia University and regional media companies to get a feel for the basic industry standards for production equipment. Vendors helped the district choose equipment appropriate for high school students.
“There is such a need right now for media literacy and digital literacy,” said Wallace. “Using an audiovisual lab to teach is such a strong, powerful tool for learning.”
Gismondi said he approached the district last spring with the intent to help fund the school’s top priority for academic improvement.
“I asked them, ‘What can I do that would help to improve the educational experience?’ Not surprisingly, they mentioned technology,” he said.
“Having the ability to create high quality media and audiovisual material is important in the digital age. They said that would be high priority, so I said let’s get it done.”
Superintendent Dr. Charles Machesky said Gismondi’s monetary gift to the district of $94,000 covered the cost of materials and construction of the labs, as well as the equipment to go with them.
The space was installed and equipment purchased over the summer to be ready for the start of the new school year.
Tammy Marzano, business, computer and information technology teacher at Uniontown, formerly produced videos with students in a small room with antiquated equipment. Now she has a studio at her disposal.
“This changes the classes I teach,” said Marzano, who has had to rewrite curricula for her technology courses. “It takes hands-on to the next level. It’s our goal to expose students to real-world projects. Now we have the equipment to do that.”
A 10-student crew from Marzano’s new video production course arrived at school a week prior to the school year to get acquainted with the new spaces and equipment to be ready to use it on the first day.
On that day, students used the new equipment to produce live broadcasts of the morning and afternoon announcements, which were previously read over the PA system, said Marzano.
“That let us know that the work we had done over the summer really spoke to the students,” she said.
Marzano said the school’s plan is to select students to be “interns” assigned to the media center for one period each day. These students will be knowledgeable of the equipment and assist teachers who bring their classes to the library to incorporate technology into their lessons.
School administrators are currently creating a curriculum that incorporates the new lab, said Machesky. An introductory-level course is being developed that will be offered to students in the second semester of this school year.