High School Cable Auction Means Deals and Dreams

Each year the high school cable television auction raises a few more dollars to maintain and buy cameras and other equiptment.

Each year a new group of students find their niche in the television production nook at the school.

And each year, the auction makes all the difference to the kids in the program — this year there are 65 of them — and the instructor, Tom Reid.

It's the program's biggest fundraiser.

The auction raised about $12,000 in 2010 and $13,000 in 2011. 

This year's auction is from May 21-24 and will include pages of items including Celtics tickets next season, a Kaplan SAT or ACT prep course, a full day of daycare, landscaping, and one-of-a-kind kid items such as a ride in a Swampscott police cruiser and a day with a veterinarian.

What the bidders won't see is the difference the program makes to its students.

Junior Tyler Short has taken four semesters of television production.

He gets to edit raw footage, turning a mass of movement and audio into a coherant scene.

The chance to think independently and make something of nothing excites him and is what he wants to pursue when he graduates from high school.

Senior Devyn Jaffe told a room full of people gathered for the Swampscott School Committee meeting Wednesday that she would not have had the courage to talk to them without her experiences on air with the auction each year.

Devyn, who has filmed documentaries, will travel 1,500 miles from home to study at the University of Miami next year.

Her experiences in televison production and film have boosted her confidence and encouraged her to strike out on a more adventurous path.

Even some of the students in the program who do not plan to pursue media studies or communications in college say they have honed skills that will help them forge their futures.

Acadia Willis plans to study business in college.

This year the senior will again manage the auction, estimating the value of items and arranging them for presentation.

Many of the program's students want to pursue media careers.

Chris Thomsen is only a sophomore but, in 18 months, he has seen himself grow in confidence, refine his pronunciation and improve his overall demeanor on air.

His growth has come through broadcasting, he said.

He is the voice of the school's basketball team and for youth football.

Like other students in the program he has fun in the present and dreams for the future.

The auction is a stage for both the present and the future.