High-Tech Summer Camp Gives Youth Hands-on Experience

Eighteen youth, ages 10 -15, participated in Eagan Television's third annual Video Camp last week.

From Monday through Thursday, children learned about all aspects of television video production including, script writing, videography, lighting, control room, directing and editing. 

The campers divided into three groups of six to plan and produce their own video that will be cablecast in a few weeks on Eagan Television Channels 15 and 20.

Although the majority of video campers are from Eagan, others are from surrounding suburbs and as far away as Minneapolis. Some employees have enrolled their children in the camp as well.

The E-TV studio is located at Thomson Reuters in a first-of-its-kind public/private partnership.

Studio Supervisor Jeff Ongstad says the the camp is a great opportunity for kids to get hands-on experience with the professional equipment the studio owns.

It is also a way to get more people using the facility. Video Camp introduces kids to the station at a young age and, Ongstad hopes, they will come back again and again, either as a volunteer or to produce a show of their own some day.

For fifteen year old Frankie Donovan, back for his second Video Camp this year, being introduced to E-TV in 2009 has set him on a trajectory for a future career. 

Donovan wants Ongstad's job someday.

For the last two years he has been volunteering at the studio and on the live truck for community events such as concerts or football games, and says he has done it all - from camera and audio to graphics and instant replays. 

This year, E-TV offered two of the Video Camp sessions, (June 21 -24 and July 18 - 21) and still had kids on the waiting list who weren't able to participate. 

At the end of the four-day camp, which runs from 9 a.m. to 4. p.m. Monday through Thrusday and costs $120, each Video Camp participant gets at DVD of all their hard work.