From editing footage to chasing stories, the students behind Ranger TV share what it’s like to produce weekly content for Redwood — and how the experience is shaping their skills, goals, and growth as storytellers.
By Abigail Zapata
Every week, Redwood High School’s student-led TV program, Ranger TV produces news and entertainment for the community to inform and engage the public.
Aaron Vasquez, ‘29 and helper for Ranger TV mentioned how communication is key to success. Vasquez says, “We make sure we all agree with each other to make sure everything runs good.”
Vasquez also says Ranger TV opens many new doors and opportunities for him. He says “One of the most rewarding parts of this is learning new people and learning new things.”
Kaiah Mayes, ‘27, and member of Ranger TV says one of the challenges when creating stories is the diversity of everybody’s perspective when it comes to creating videos.
Mayes says “I think it’s the creativity aspect, so many people have different opinions and projects and what they think looks good. When I have to look over something like that I don’t want to contradict people or put people down for their work because I don’t like it because they might.”
Mayes has big goals for her 11th grade year in Ranger TV. “I think my main goal is to win a SlickRock, that would be really amazing and ultimately just get recognized for my work and all the effort and energy I put into it.”
Mayes really understands and feels the pressure and stress of trying to make the videos look good, but she enjoys this program and all it has to offer.
She says “It’s been an amazing experience, I get a lot of opportunities to do things, show my work, and add things to my portfolio which I’m very grateful for.”
Sydney Kakeu, ‘26, and sports reporter for Ranger TV mentioned that the class is constantly moving. Whether that is them writing a script, creating a segment, or setting up a camera, there is always something to do.
Kakeu also says it helps him become more vocal and realize all this potential that he never knew he had. He says “It helps me speak out more, say what I want and what I don’t want; communication is the thing because I’ve struggled with communication and it does help me become better as a person in seeing my talents and what I can eventually do in the future.”
Apart from the creative aspect, the best part about Ranger TV for Kakeu is the responsibility that comes along with it.
He says “ lot of people did trust me like Henshaw, the fact that I’m being interviewed right now, Henshaw is allowing me to be that kind of person; I think that all the hard work, the personality, what I have been told by a lot of people, it makes me glad and it makes me reassure myself even better that I’m that kind of person that people say I am.”
Brodie Terry, ‘26, and creator behind BT Productions truly thinks that Ranger TV is a collaborative effort. Terry says “It’s teamwork at its finest. I think whether it’s me or people working on scripts and then going out and shooting it; there’s no one person who works on something, it’s a whole team effort.”
Terry says that Ranger TV supports his goal of working to create things for the MLB or the NFL because of how much it enforces teamwork.
He also mentioned that one of the most rewarding parts about Ranger TV is seeing the final product. “Its pretty cool seeing yourself on TV or in class; I think it’s just seeing the whole result of all the hard work at the end of the week.”
Abby Orosco, ‘26, main editor and executive producer of Ranger TV day starts by gathering all the footage from her reporters, grabbing her segments, reaching out to those that are going to be included in the segments, gathering all of her B-Roll footage.
Another part of Ranger TV is choosing what is news worthy to put into each episode.
Orosco says, “Its really hard when we choose what to cover because Redwood is a school that has so much different things; we typically pick the most relevant events and the biggest events, but we also like to do fun events where we go out and we interview people trying to cover Redwood as a whole.”
Orosco says that she didn’t always go to Redwood; she transferred from Dinuba her freshman year and she says that Ranger TV really helped her grow her confidence and connections.
Orosco says “It helped me learn people I got to know the football players, the dancers, and the band kids because as Ranger TV, we cover that.”
“Also in just learning how to work with people; it sometimes puts you in places of power and it sometimes puts you in places where you’re like I don’t know what to do. But it’s all about learning to mature, learning to grow, and learning how to be professional in such settings.”
Abigail Zapata
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