NISD elementary school introduces 5th graders to news through morning announcements program

SAN ANTONIO – Morning announcements are no stranger to classrooms across the country, but when Wernli Elementary opened its doors in 2020, faculty and staff wanted the announcements to be more like a newscast.

The Wernli Wildcat News TV crew consists of 25 to 35 students in the fifth grade. Students get the opportunity to anchor, script and direct the morning announcements.

“It’s really fun coming in here with everybody else from different classes and work together to announce the announcements,” said Edgar, a fifth-grade student.

With the help of Elida Madrigal and a librarian, a group of five students work together each morning to do the announcements at 7:45 a.m. each school day. Announcements include the pledges, a moment of silence, the lunch menu, birthdays, important reminders from the principal and a goodbye.

“We really work together to make it a school community broadcast every morning,” Madrigal said.

Madrigal says fifth graders are the only ones who get to work in the news program and that’s because they are the leaders of the school.

“The kids will come in and say, ‘when the kids see me in the hallway they’re like I saw you on TV’ and so that just gives them that leadership role,” Madrigal said.

The process of picking students for next year’s news crew starts when the students are in the fourth grade. All fourth-grade students are given an application and after applications are submitted, the students audition.

“I thought that this would be fun. I did sign up and I was able to get in,” Edgar said.