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Students sharpen editing skills with help from PBS

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Students at Lewis and Clark middle school are sharpening their skills in video editing with the help of PBS.

The school is the only one in the state participating in the PBS NewsHour Reporting Lab.

An initiative that gives the middle school students a chance to shoot videos on local and national issues and possibly see their work appear on air.  The topics are chosen by PBS.

"PBS productions is really about students finding their own voices voices in talking about how that topic impacts their life," said Holly Ortega, who teaches the class.
 
140 students are participating in the program. Their teacher says it's not just about learning journalism and tv skills though, it's also about learning civic engagement.
 
"So we do talk about issues around the first amendment, we talk about timely reliable news, we talk about fact versus opinion how to find that information how to conduct a good research," Ortega said.

The reporting lab takes the place of a district required computer application elective, so the course begins each day with key boarding skills to fit district requirements.

PBS NewsHour provides the rest of the curriculum.