By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
Escambia County High School’s broadcasting program got a boost last week when Alabama Power Company (APCO) Community Relations Manager Tripp Ward presented broadcasting students and school officials with a check for $2,500.
Most of the Power to Play grant — which was awarded by the Alabama Power Foundation — will be dedicated to updating broadcast equipment so that the quality of the school’s closed-circuit telecasts is enhanced.
“This is primarily for our broadcasting class,” Broadcast Class Instructor Conrad Weber said. “We’ll use it to update some of our equipment and buy some new equipment. We want to get a good wireless system and some hand-held cameras and some new microphones for our studio.”
Some of the new equipment will be used to replace damaged items. Overall, the grant money will broaden the scope and enhance the quality of the on-air productions the students put together.
“It will give us a lot more options as to what type broadcasts the students do,” he explained.
Weber said any leftover funds will be used to help launch a revival of ECHS’s choral program, which reached the pinnacle of success in 2017 when several members of the school’s Honor Choir performed at Carnegie Hall.
APCO’s Ward said he was glad the Foundation could help the local high school, and ECHS Principal LaTonya Gill said the school would be doing “plenty of things like this” during the school year.
Power to Play grants support arts and sports programs in public schools where 50 percent or more of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
Alabama Power Foundation is committed to supporting families and empowering communities through its various grant programs in an attempt to “bridge the gaps of inequality and improve the quality of life for all Alabamians.”