Middle schoolers at Riverview School are reaching new celebrity status and keeping their peers in-the-know thanks to their new, student-led, morning announcements. 

The Riverview K-8 School in between Glenwood and Carbondale started a new student-led news initiative during the 2024-25 school year to help build community and to teach kids the importance of being bilingual. 

The news is live-streamed on TVs around the school every morning during the students “free breakfast in the classroom program” as they go over the latest school news, weather forecasts, lunch menus, sports highlights, fun facts and more. The announcements are made in both English and Spanish, helping coagulate two different communities into one. 

“The student-led newscast is a shining example of how we elevate student voices and give them a platform to showcase their leadership,” Adam Volek, the principal of Riverview School said in a news release. “Our students lead with kindness and responsibility, bringing joy and a positive tone to our school community each day. This initiative is a testament to the power of student agency, and it also highlights the superpower of being bilingual.”

The initial idea was adult-generated, but the kids have taken over the project and made it their own. Joe Hook, the STEM and media teacher, started to turn the idea into a formal reality at the end of last school year by forming the structure and recruiting certain students. Now, students write the scripts, run the camera, and decide which subjects will be in English and which will be in Spanish. The stream ends every morning with a full-school breathing exercise to help create a smooth transition into class.

“We were just looking for a good way to start the day,” Hook said. “The way the students have taken to it is wonderful to see.”

Everyday has a different theme to get the kids involved. No matter if it’s motivational Monday, wacky Wednesday, or think-about-it Thursday, the morning announcements at Riverview have become a staple of their morning. 

Students rotate their roles, and bilingual students take turns informing their fellow students of news that actually apply. 

“Having morning announcements has been a way to help shape how each day starts,” Volek said. “Our kids seeing themselves throughout our school as leaders and bilingual super stars is an important part of our mission as a school. Our community sees that we hold both Spanish and English as important languages and are able to see the pride that our students have in their abilities to speak both languages.”

“I really enjoy the buy-in that is promoted throughout the entire school,” Hook said. “Students receive a lot of important information from their peers. I love the excitement of our scholars as they lead the news every morning. They work hard to prepare for it and they write the ‘news’ from their heart. The little kids see the newscasters and think of them as ‘celebrities’ and role models.”

The few students that are a part of the production team have begun to build a celebrity status within the small school community. The media members realize the power from their own voice and the student-led morning tradition further affirms the strong, student-led, community that the RIverview School is setting out to achieve. 

“The student-led news cast is important for our school because it helps everyone in our school stay connected and promotes relevant information around the events  happening each day. This is a good way for the kids in the announcements to use teamwork,” Lois, a seventh grader said. 

The buy-in that Hook refers to doesn’t only apply to the select few students that are a part of the Morning Announcement team. The entire school has rallied around the new school tradition and everyone from the young students to their teachers enjoy the new start to the day. 

“The announcements are a great way to learn about what is going on from the kids,” Eli Rojas Capilla, a third grade teacher said. “It is fun to receive the information from the middle schoolers. It’s much more engaging.”