During the summer before the 2013-2014 school year, a new addition was finished in the old band and choir rooms at Ritenour High School; the Media Convergence Center.

The center was built with the intention to expand and improve the Ritenour media classes.

Last school year, Ritenour had one radio class, one journalism class, one video class, and one yearbook class; each for only one hour a day. This year, due to the new media center, Ritenour has the opportunity to provide a new class designed to introduce students to media production.

“We have a new introduction class. In this class we learn about using and creating media. We learn about the safety required while roaming the internet. We also learn how to write and design, and also how to create online videos,” Media Convergence teacher Ron Steinschriber said.

The large amount of space in the media center allows students to effectively have full class discussions, brainstorming sessions, and meetings among editors when necessary.

Provided in the media center are 25 new Mac laptops, large, movable tables, plenty of white board space for brainstorming and planning, and two interactive Apple televisions.

The radio class now has their own recording booth where they can broadcast live. With the new equipment, students have the opportunity to host their own shows on 90.1 FM. The students broadcast live, and also record programs for the times they are outside of school.

“We went from having a bunch of junk in a cramped room to an awesome brand new room, full of new stuff and equipment that we get to use every day. I even get to start doing a morning show every Friday,” Senior Jeremy Fipps said.

The media production classes have already begun to put the center to use, and plan on using it throughout the year to produce award-winning media.

All of the classes have joined together in another way, as well. Each class is contributing stories, photos, audio, and video to the new Media Convergence website ritenourlive.org. The website, made public during the second week of school, hosts all the Pepper Box stories with extra daily content planned for the future.

“So far the new media center has been great for hosting class discussions. We have done some brainstorming as a class in the big room. We also got to use the new laptops to access our new online website, where we post pictures, stories, and a bunch of different stuff. It is really exciting,” Print News student Missy Griffith said.