Swampscott students gear up for TV auction

SWAMPSCOTT – The lights are set, the cameras ready. Now the students in the high school TV Production classes are getting ready for the auction.Preparations have begun for the annual Swampscott High School TV Auction, which is the production classes’ main source of annual funding, their most-watched event of the year and the students’ biggest hands-on project.The event will be held from May 23 to May 27 from 7 to 10 p.m. on Channel 15 on Comcast in Swampscott and Channel 40 on Verizon in Swampscott, Lynn and Nahant, and students are looking for businesses to donate items.”We’re not in anybody’s budget,” explained TV Production teacher Tom Reid. The studio is essentially rebuilt each decade with money from the town’s contract with cable providers, according to the standard formula for public access television. But in terms of paying for operating costs each year, that task falls to the students who run the auction.”That makes the auction even more of an achievement,” Reid said. “They keep the program going. If they didn’t get the $10-15,000 each year, we wouldn’t get funded.”Fortunately, Reid has found a dedicated crew of students.”I was lost until I found TV,” said Haley McDevitt, a freshman. “I always had an interest in broadcast, now I can’t see movies or a commercial without looking at their focusing tricks or other things.”Junior Devyn Jaffe is the student leader in the studio and will be the Phones Manager for the live auction as well as an on-air host. She said that each night of the auction requires about 20 to 30 people to host, work and film the event.”I look forward to it – I’m even going to have to take time off from work to do it each night,” said Jaffe, explaining that giving up a shift at Kell’s Kreme is a risky proposition. “Everybody wants a job in an ice-cream shop.”Reid describes the students as like a “community.” TV Production fulfills an art requirement – like band or music – so the students stay involved year after year with a group of fresh recruits each fall. The auction is their homecoming event, as alumni visit to host the auction and community members annually participate as entertainment or as donors.And the prizes are a unique reflection of the Swampscott community. SAT tutoring is popular for the school’s ambitious students (or their parents), and Red Sox and concert tickets from Bay State Tickets and Travel are always a big draw, according to Jaffe.Art teachers Anita Balliro and Reeva Oppenheim have donated original artwork, Reid said, and students connect with almost every local business. Health teacher Kenneth Harris even donates windsurfing lessons. Gary Sohmers, who works as an appraiser with Antiques Roadshow on PBS, donates an appraisal of your collectables.This year, the students will use the multimedia skills of Noah Conti to add a website to update bid prices and showcase the auction items.Jaffe said that her goal for the year is to be more organized than before.”It always ends up being the week before the auction and everybody’s things come pouring in,” Jaffe said. “But we’re teenagers, we procrastinate.”