Eric Krywe was a sophomore at SUNY Oswego in 1999, and can recall walking toward the school library and spotting a pamphlet under a single spotlight about teaching technology. Now a Long Beach High School television production teacher for 24 years, Krywe has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Long Island-based Broadcast Alliance for Senior High.
The organization, formerly known as the Broadcast Awards for Senior High and commonly known as BASH, recognizes teachers for their contributions to high school media education.
The Long Beach High television studio started as an idea on the first floor of the building, where teachers and students in a photography class developed black-and-white photos. For Krywe (pronounced CRY-wee), who grew up making stop-motion videos on his grandfather’s VHS, there was a drive to make it something more.
“When I started, I really had the vision of creating a television production class and a film class,” he said, “which the high school didn’t have.”
In 2009, Krywe and Michael Richez, the then high school’s director of technology, visited schools and colleges in the Albany area, looking for ideas on how to build a studio that would reshape media education in Long Beach.
Using money from a $98 million bond passed in 2008, school officials turned a modest setup of four camcorders and four MacBook computers into a student production facility, complete with a control room, post-production lab and a studio, as part of the school’s expansion in 2015.
Even after the studio opened, Krywe said, he continued visiting high schools across Long Island, including Glen Cove, Great Neck South and Southold, to gather ideas and to help other districts launching similar programs.
“For me, it was a lot of research, as well as trial and error,” he said. “It was so challenging that when other schools started building their own lab, I was like, I want to help anybody, so they don’t have to go through what I went through.”
Each day during the school year, Krywe teaches television studio production, a four-year sequence blending classroom instruction with hands-on work. Freshmen learn storyboarding, scriptwriting and camera operation, along with editing software such as Final Cut Pro and Photoshop. Sophomores begin producing commercials, public service announcements and short films that are entered in film festivals throughout the year.
By their junior and senior year, students take on larger production roles. They help run “The Morning Wave,” the school’s daily livestreamed morning show, and seniors can also earn college credit as well as a Career and Technology Education Certification that can help them find production work after they graduate.
“It’s a very robust, high-level program where these kids are learning real industry standards in high school,” Krywe said. “They come in and they’re running the full show every day.”
Topics for “The Morning Wave” come from teachers and coaches around the building, who submit story ideas online for students to report on. Recent segments have highlighted sporting events, musicians performing at Carnegie Hall and the high school robotics team competing at the FIRST Championship in Houston.
For Krywe, the larger goal has been to help students build confidence.
“Kids nowadays need that ‘we’re so proud of you’ moment,” he said. “It makes them feel a higher sense of self-worth. For kids to be able to see themselves, I think it motivates them to do more.”
Keith Harvey, the district’s directory of technology and innovation, praised Krywe’s commitment to giving students professional-level experience, noting that Long Beach students recently earned eight awards at the Locust Valley Film Festival.
“He’s an outstanding educator,” Harvey said. “It’s amazing to see him provide students with the skills and confidence to provide the morning news for our school, as well as their work on short films and other projects.”
Krywe grew up in Greigsville, in western New York, where he developed interests in technology, film and theater. He was also a three-sport athlete, the MVP of York High School’s basketball and baseball teams as a senior, and one of 60 football players who competed in the Eddie Meath All-Star Game, which honors the best athletes in the state’s Section V.
Now he coaches junior varsity basketball and baseball in Long Beach, and says his competitive drive also fuels his ambition to see the television production program continue to flourish.
“We have local and state recognition,” Krywe said. “Now I want to become one of the best in the country.”