Florida International University

Students enrolled in Miami Edison Senior High’s visual and performing arts program will study in a state-of-the-art TV studio when renovations are complete in the fall.

The upgraded studio is among the first projects in a plan to completely rebuild Miami Edison into a magnet based around four “academies” intended to create a collegiate atmosphere at the school.
“We hope this will encourage and motivate them to take advantage of what’s around them,” said Leon Maycock, dean of student affairs at Edison, who came to the school last July.

Among the most troubled schools in Miami-Dade County, Miami Edison has never received higher than a “D” since Florida’s school grading system began in 1999 and went through four principals in five years.

Riots broke out at the school two years ago, after a massive police response to what students said was a peaceful protest against the arrest of a student after a confrontation with an administrator.

The school is located on Northwest Fifth Court and Northwest Sixty Second Street, by I-95, on the border between Liberty City and Little Haiti, neighborhoods.

The school’s new curriculum features tracks in health and public affairs, international studies, an academic honors program for the arts, of which the TV studio is a part. Officials say it will serve local students, as well as students county-wide.

“Edison will be a full magnet school and hopes to bus students from all over,” Maycock said.

The renovated TV studio will let art students learn to handle camera, sound and editing equipment, direct and appear on camera.

In the works for four years, the $400,000 federally-funded renovation includes installation of professional cameras, soundproofing and computerized editing systems.

The old cameras were donated by WLRN-TV, which is owned by the school district, and will be given back to the station.

Student Kenns Delice, a senior art student at the school said he enjoys the program.

“I enjoy getting in front of the camera, but as a cameraman I am more skilled,” said Delice.

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