Taylorville High School students will get a behind-the-scenes look at professional sports broadcasting and live event production Thursday, with lessons that will go directly from the classroom to a live volleyball broadcast that evening.
The students are part of TommyTV, Taylorville High School’s student-run broadcast and live production program.
TommyTV gives students hands-on experience producing live events. Students take on responsibilities that can include directing, producing, running cameras, lighting, staging and other technical and production duties.
The program is designed to give students experience that goes beyond learning about broadcasting from a textbook. They are responsible for planning and executing actual productions, while learning how communication, preparation and teamwork affect the final product.
On Thursday, students will spend the day learning from Tony West, a professional whose production work includes St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Blues broadcasts, documentary filmmaking and the Musial Awards.
West will meet with both TommyTV classes to talk about his career and answer questions. He will also work with students involved in the Tommy Awards, a student-produced awards show at Taylorville High School.
The Tommy Awards students will also meet virtually with Breylin Bright, events manager for the St. Louis Sports Commission, and Amanda Ryan, a producer of the Musial Awards.
The students will learn how a major televised awards show is planned and produced, including creating a timeline, assigning responsibilities and coordinating the various pieces needed to bring a live production together.
Students will also discuss their own plans for the upcoming Tommy Awards and get feedback on some of the challenges they face.
That experience will continue later this year, when TommyTV students attend the 2026 Musial Awards in St. Louis as guests of the St. Louis Sports Commission.
The relationship with West and the Musial Awards grew out of a TommyTV student visit to a St. Louis Blues broadcast about four years ago. TommyTV student leaders have also attended the Musial Awards in previous years.
The professional experience will then come full circle Thursday night.
West will join the volleyball broadcast crew as students test equipment, conduct communication checks and prepare for the live broadcast, which begins at 6:45 p.m.
After the game, the students will meet with West to review the production, discuss what went well and identify areas where they can improve.
For TommyTV students, that feedback is an important part of the experience.
Instead of simply learning what a camera operator, director or producer does, students are performing those jobs themselves and seeing the results in real time.
The program also gives students an opportunity to understand how skills developed in a high school production can translate to larger professional broadcasts, live events and other careers in media and production.
School officials say the combination of hands-on experience and professional guidance helps students develop skills such as preparation, communication, teamwork, problem-solving and attention to detail.
And perhaps most importantly, students get to make mistakes, solve problems and improve while working on productions that are actually being watched.
The TommyTV experience is designed to give students a look at what it takes to put a professional production on the air, while giving them the opportunity to begin building those skills before they ever enter the workforce.
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