Mascoma AV recently celebrated its fifth year of live streaming at Mascoma High School, marking an impressive milestone in the program’s growth. What started as a small group with a bold vision has evolved into a polished, student-led production team known for its professionalism and creativity. This year, the crew enhanced its broadcasts with new camera angles, delivering a more dynamic and immersive viewing experience for the entire community as well as additional animations and graphics.
A highlight of the season was a special halftime video created by a student who interviewed the original members of Mascoma AV, along with the nonprofit’s founding leaders. The project paid tribute to the organization’s roots while showcasing how far it has come through hard work, resilience, and collaboration.
At the heart of Mascoma AV is one simple motto: “Make Big.” The students live by these words because every aspect of the program is student-driven, from creative decisions to production goals. They determine how far it will go, how much it will grow, and how big each broadcast can become.
The numbers show just how far that vision has come. During the fifth anniversary livestream alone, more than 500 viewers tuned in LIVE, with over 1,100 total views within the first few hours; an incredible achievement for a student-run production team. Beyond live broadcasts, Mascoma AV continues to expand creatively. Last year, a Mascoma senior produced a documentary that became the most viewed and most watch-timed film in program history. The project went on to earn selections at multiple film festivals, proving that when students are trusted with real responsibility, they create work that reaches far beyond the classroom.
The program’s growth is not only visible in production quality, but also in impact and leadership. In the early days of Mascoma AV, the team helped launch the district’s first-ever “Mascoma Schools” YouTube channel. At the time, it was somewhat experimental, used mainly for school board meetings, with only a few broadcasts posted before regular sports streaming began. As the program expanded, the need for more creative control led students to build and manage their own dedicated channel.
Then, five years in, came a full-circle realization: Mascoma AV had access to the district’s original channel all along. What once functioned as a simple informational outlet suddenly represented something much bigger: the opportunity to transform the district’s first official YouTube presence into a fully student-focused platform. Rather than letting it sit as a relic of the program’s early days, students are now reimagining it as a space centered on storytelling, podcasts, and original productions driven entirely by student creativity.
– Zach Kenney (student Vice President)
