By Rhys Baker

Through the Carl Perkins grant, the Smoky Hill Education Service Center has awarded the Clay Center Community High School Yearbook and Journalism class with two cameras and a lens as part of their Career and Technical Education. CCCHS Instructor Kelsie McFadden explains, “We all get a certain allotted budget as Career Technical Education Teachers every year to purchase items for our classrooms. This is because we have CTE funding through the Smoky Hill consortium, so last year at the end of the year we were notified that we would enter a lottery with other members and receive items for our classrooms based on the most requested items.”

The CCCHS Yearbook and Journalism class received two Canon R-5 mirrorless camera bodies and a fisheye lens. The camera bodies cost approximately three thousand dollars each, with the wide-angle fisheye lens retailing at a thousand dollars. McFadden says the class is working on obtaining a second lens, “Our yearbook class raises money to purchase the yearbook, but then we also have our media day funds and our CTE fund. This year, we are also doing a project with the Flint Hills Writing project and getting a grant through that project. Pooling all of those fun together, we will try to use those to purchase a new lens. It’s exciting that we get these resources to improve our school and give our students hands-on experiences.”

The Smoky Hill Education Service Center was created in 1990. It is a consortium of more than 50 school districts in 25 counties, formed to provide various educational services to its participating members.