Juliet Mastrioanni was in fourth grade when Penn-Trafford High School’s video production class hosted its first telethon benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Eight years later, Mastrioanni is one of the video production students organizing the broadcast, which runs more than four hours.
“I just remember thinking ‘It’s just a fun day that we don’t have to do any work, because we’re watching something on TV,’ ” said Mastrioanni, a junior. “I didn’t really understand the impact that it had on the community.”
The broadcast, scheduled for Dec. 22, will feature prerecorded performances by elementary and middle school students, live musical guests, commercials for local businesses, movies and instructional videos created by the video production class.
Viewers will be able to donate during the telethon by scanning a QR code on the screen. But fundraising takes place year-round through a dodgeball tournament, teacher dress-down days and local business advertising, among other initiatives.
This year, the class aims to raise about $65,000 and reach a grand total of $500,000 raised since the telethon’s inception, said teacher Steve Vinton.
“That will be a big moment for everyone involved,” Vinton said.
Penn-Trafford class aims to fund a dozen wishes
Producing the telethon is a yearlong effort. Students have been working since February on one of the broadcast’s segments: Teachmaster, a riff on the British game show “Taskmaster” featuring the district’s teachers, Mastrioanni said.
“We have a month break after this, and then we do it all over again,” she said.
The telethon has an educational purpose: teaching students the video production and live broadcast process firsthand. But its charitable impact has become a focal point for students.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants special experiences — including travel, a gift, meeting a celebrity, working a dream job or directing funds to help others — to children diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses.
An average wish costs $5,000, Vinton said. The class aims to grant about a dozen wishes through this year’s fundraising.
Vinton selected Make-A-Wish as the telethon’s beneficiary eight years ago. He has no plans to change that anytime soon.
“I just felt that Make-A-Wish touches so many different people’s lives,” he said. “They help so many people going through so many different things. It just felt like the right thing to do.”
‘Not just making videos’
Students this year visited the nonprofit’s Greater Pennsylvania and West Virginia office in downtown Pittsburgh to tour the facility and interview its leaders.
Senior Brooklyn Usmiller was touched by the drawings by Make-A-Wish recipients displayed on the facility’s walls.
“It just shows how many people within the community and within Pennsylvania they’ve helped,” she said. “It also shows the money that we raise in the telethon helps them do that even more.
“It really put into perspective — we’re not just making videos for our TV class. We get to be a part of a larger organization that really impacts our communities and tons of kids that get to have a wish granted through what we do here.”
Senior video student Maddy Long looks forward to sharing the telethon with the district and the surrounding community.
“People all throughout the district watch it,” she said, “and I think it’s really incredible that we make that much of an impact.”