The MCHS Media Club has changed dramatically throughout its twelve-year lifespan, but its core goal remains the same: to serve the community, which current sponsor Kristy Griffith finds more valuable than ever in recent times.
While the club started out with the sole purpose of livestreaming sports games, its horizons have broadened greatly since.
“It’s not just sports anymore, which I’m very proud of,” Griffith remarked. They have since expanded to tape the Telethon of Stars, the Paducah Symphony Orchestra, and the Grand March on the night of Prom. Additionally, photographers in the club have taken photos of the school’s spring musical every year. 
Griffith also mentioned the expansion of the club itself. She made it a point that there are more students involved in media arts as a whole.
Her entry-level classes–Intro to Media Arts and Video Fundamentals–are especially popular, with students of every grade signing up and participating. In them, students learn the essentials of filming and editing.
There were still concerns going into the 25-’26 school year, though.
“I was really worried over the summer, because we had 10, 11, 12 seniors graduate,” she explained.
Last year’s crew was composed almost entirely of seniors, leaving the underclassmen to fill their shoes.
She had faith in the students taking over, though–as well as incoming members looking to participate this year, claiming they “seem excited about it.”
At their first meeting of the year, held at the football game versus Paducah Tilghman, the shift put the returning members to the test, thrusting them into a position of greater responsibility.
Sophomore Brayden Doom was among those members. The year prior, he was placed on a side camera–his first job–but this year, he was moved into the press box to work the Jumbotron graphics.
There was some added pressure with this position.
“Everybody sees what you do on the Jumbotron,” Doom said, “where not everybody sees if you’re not the live camera.”
In spite of this, Doom managed to work the game with little conflict. He even claimed to be more comfortable now, doing something completely new, than he was before.
“You kind of have Griffith behind you the entire time,” he described. Throughout the game, Griffith was teaching him the interface, so he had someone to steer him in the right direction his first time around.
Another student who worked the Jumbotron was junior Nolen Patterson. He was not at the first game, but he held the spot the year before.
When he was on duty, he too felt the pressure of being behind the panel. Patterson explained, “[It’s], like, a very big part of the game, and it’s important to have stuff like that in order to keep the game going.”
Patterson, also a frequent editor for Mustang TV News, was responsible for making the graphics used at the graduation ceremony.
“I did work last year,” he stated. “I did work [during] graduation–which, with that, I had to learn Adobe After Effects.”
While he was not familiar with After Effects at the time–namely keyframing, a form of animation he had to use in the graphic–his experience in other, similar softwaremade for a much gentler learning curve.
He said, “If it weren’t for editing, I wouldn’t know how to do keyframing in general.”
When they cleared the cameras that evening, Griffith was pleased with the quality of the production.
“To have something that we can have [with] only three, four people that have worked the year before, and have it work, and have it grow–is amazing,” Griffith said. “So, I think the future is super good.”
