On Thursday, December 8, students from St. Mary Catholic Community School in Crown Point traveled to Chicago to visit the WGN Television Studio. Students were given a personal tour by news anchor Lourdes Duarte. The eight students run St. Mary's School news broadcast, WSMW, on a daily basis. They all have interest in television broadcasting and were excited about the opportunity to visit WGN. Aundrea Munoz said, “Seeing Pat Tomasulo, the morning sports anchor, broadcast live was my favorite part. It was amazing how much he knows!"
The students visited the assignment desk, saw news editing in action, visited the control room, and then got to sit in on a live broadcast of the WGN Morning News. Getting to ask Lourdes Duarte all kinds of questions was what student Abby Taylor sited as the most fascinating part of tour. She said, “It is amazing learning about all she has to do on her job!"
"I liked talking with traffic reporter Sarah Jindra. She was really nice and showed us some pictures she took while she was up in the helicopter. It seems like she has a fun job!" said 4th grader Gabby Thorn.
“This was an excellent educational experience for the St. Mary students” said Ms. Heather Clarkson who is the sponsor of St. Mary’s WSMW News program. “They were all extremely excited to return to their own WSMW studio and work on their news broadcast. Perhaps some of them will work for WGN someday.”
Following their trip to WGN, students were able to attend mass at St. Benedict Church to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. "I really enjoyed the beautiful church," commented 6th grader Emily Wake.
St. Mary Catholic Community School in Crown Point is celebrating its 145th school year. The school offers grade levels Junior Pre-Kindergarten (for three year olds) through eight and is intentional about providing extraordinary life experiences, like the WGN trip, for its students. St. Mary’s faculty teaches a rich curriculum supported by cutting-edge technology. To learn more about St. Mary’s School’s upcoming Open House, visit stmarycp.org/school.