Students nowadays are already way ahead of the ball when it comes to the technology of their parents, and the curve just keeps getting younger. One class of eighth graders at Pioneer Middle School in DuPont is learning all things multimedia thanks to the school's digital media enrichment course.

The 57-minute class meets five days a week. In addition to learning about all the elements of video production - from the equipment to editing the final cuts - students learn about the 1st Amendment as it relates to the news and television.

"Through the productions, the kids are also exposed to public speaking and learn advertising techniques," said course instructor Derek Beaulieu, who also teaches eighth grade social studies at the school. "They do everything, from start to finish. I mean they have to come up with ideas and storyboards and then pitch it to me before production starts."

For Bailey Underwood, whose father is currently deployed to Afghanistan, the class has led to her analyze movies rather than just watch them.

"I sort of think about how they got that shot, did the lighting, everything," Underwood said with a laugh. "Mr. Beaulieu has taught us everything we know."

Though this class has been offered for the past eight years, things have dramatically improved since Pioneer relocated to a brand new building in DuPont three years ago. In addition to editing bays and computer stations, the kids have access to a state-of-the-art television studio that has industrial-grade cameras, a teleprompter and even a chroma, or green, screen. From that studio, the 25 students in the class produce and broadcast the morning news on the school's closed-circuit channel, which can include teachers' announcements or even short commercials, like one they made to promote this year's yearbook.

"I'd acted in some short videos that my brother and I made before this," said Zach Westhoff, whose father is also stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, as he worked intently at editing the latest movie creation. "But now I know how to do it all and I like it."

"We're lucky to be here," joked Michael Williams, whose father is retired from the military. "Not everyone gets to take this class."

Williams is right; not only are there other enrichment classes, like band, choir or woodshop, which students can get randomly placed in, but to be eligible for the digital media course, students have to pass the Measurements of Student Progress, or MSP, tests.

Aside from the news and some commercials, the class has also produced a mystery/horror movie and tackled a stop-motion movie with voice-overs, which they agree was tricky.

"What's great is that the kids love it," Beaulieu said. "It is easy to teach when they want to learn."