Nineties kids might remember Channel One , a news program that began in 1989 and provided TVs for schools to run its daily newscasts. The sets were leased to schools at low prices in exchange for the ads that ran during the news shows.
In terms of size, those sets were ranged from 20 -30 inches, and for the time the technology was beyond compare.
Technology has come a long way since those days, and you can see it in the way Meyers Elementary is using its TV tech this year.
In coordination with Myers’s principal Mr. Matthew Stinson, the Bellwood-Antis Tech department has built a giant TV in the LGI room. There’s another just outside the door in the lobby, and both are used for different purposes.
Both TVs are aimed at improving student morale.
“We were looking for a way through COVID of doing webinars and to continue that after COVID,” Mr. Stinson said. “There were all these extra tv when we replaced (classroom sets) with flip boards.”
They decided to use the leftover TVs as one, linking together nine different flat screens to make one giant one.
The big screen was finished in 2022, held together by special brackets. Mr. Stinson said it has been a a big hit for the students, who often use the LGI’s giant TV for special award-day movies. He said Jason Corle, who in in charge of the district’s tech department, was a big a part of it.
In the lobby outside of the LGI the tech department hung another massive television that can be used for announcements, among other things. Sometimes to calm down students or have a relaxing time, they put on relaxing, AI-generated sights and sounds, like forests or streams, or the drone shot of the school.
Other smaller little TVs in the Myers entrances display the weather on them or music to pump students up or relax them.
They are all part of Mr. Stinson’s larger plan to address students emotional needs. They also have the therapy dog that visits on Mondays and Wednesday if the kids are stressed out and need to unwind.
