Halstead's Riley Smith takes school's video streaming to higher level

HALSTEAD - One of James O'Brien's former tasks as Halstead High School athletic director was to make sure a hard-working underclassman, Riley Smith, got a few nights off.

O'Brien, now principal at Remington Middle School, appreciated Smith's drive and dedication to provide quality video streaming of the Dragons' many sporting events and activities. But a school calendar can get pretty full.

"There's a lot going on and he deserved it," O'Brien said. "But it was a lot harder when he wasn't there."

Smith, a senior, is still doing his thing – or things – coordinating the video production of live events on the Halstead High School – USD 440 Facebook page. His work goes hand in hand with the lessons and information he gathered as a sophomore in Ashley Watkins' audio/video fundamentals class, and the last one-plus years in her video production class.

Smith is the Capitol Federal True Blue® Student of the Week.

"The biggest contribution that Riley has made to HHS is by far his revamp of our video streaming program," said Watkins, Halstead's journalism adviser. "Last year, we were faced with unprecedented challenges as to how we could make high quality video streaming of all our home sporting events available to parents. … Riley took on this challenge and dominated it."

Smith found allies in O'Brien and Watkins after his first experience behind a camera at a Halstead football game two years ago.

Using "an iPad and a stick," Smith, a novice video maker at the time, shot his footage with little to no technical difficulty. But his mind kept racing that evening.

"Everything was pretty smooth," Smith said. "But have you ever had that moment where something is egging you on in the back of your head like, 'You can do better than this. There's so much more you can do?'

"That's what I had. I thought, 'This can be great. This can be beautiful. We can turn this into something amazing.'"

Watkins encouraged Smith to share his thoughts with O'Brien, which he did via email.

"Mr. O'Brien was the one who really helped me get this going and get this set up," Smith said. "I tried as hard as I could to get everything going and, of course, we didn't have any funds. We kind of had to work within our lines. Once I managed to prove myself that we could actually do this, then we started getting some funding."

Smith felt Halstead could provide a better streaming product with items like additional cameras and a capture card. He worked with O'Brien to acquire Production Truck software from BlueFrame Technology, which incorporates features like scoreboard integration and instant replay. Halstead superintendent Ron Barry advocated for the new equipment, O'Brien said.

"Riley is a great kid who'll spend his own time and sometimes his own money to make things better," O'Brien said. "He's a guy who shows a lot of initiative and he's always thinking one step ahead."

Smith is a go-to resource for Halstead teachers and students as a tech aide in the school's information technology department. To balance that, he enjoys video storytelling, which has evolved from a chili cookoff project in Watkins' audio/video fundamentals to highlighting underdog stories in video production.

"We try to get all the sports covered and we try to get every student in as much as possible," Smith said. "Not everybody can constantly get a highlight. We're in Kansas. We're not a 6A school. We're not constantly getting scouted by colleges, so I want to make sure that people get the opportunity to succeed."

Sean Boston, a Dodge City radio announcer and Halstead graduate, gave Smith and O'Brien tips on the streaming set-up. Smith now works with Nick Barnes, Halstead's first-year assistant principal and athletic director, to produce HHS livestreams.

For football and basketball games, Halstead alumnus Grant Williams, the city's parks and recreation director, handles play-by-play duties. Dragons girls basketball coach Derek Schutte adds football color commentary. Smith helped recruit and works with a group of students who handle camera duties.

The livestreaming crew's biggest production is the Adolph Rupp Invitational midseason basketball tournament.

"It's like our magnum opus," Smith said. "Everybody gets to shine and spread our wings. We do all the games."

Over the summer, Smith spent three weeks creating a 12-page manual – which has since grown to 14 pages, he says – as a sort of livestreaming guide for Halstead staff and students. It contains diagrams, pictures and descriptions of the equipment the school uses to put events online.

"I wanted to make sure I'm not the only one who knows how to do this because I'm not going to be here forever," said Smith, who would like to major in computer science in college. "I want to make sure Mr. Barnes and Mrs. Watkins get the chance to allow others to keep on doing this. I just hope that one day this will grow into something incredible."

In technology, difficulties always loom. Internet issues prevented the Dragons' Sept. 3 football opener against Smoky Valley from being shared online. Smith has been working with Halstead technology support administrator Terrance Nightingale to try to resolve the issue.

"What he is doing is contributing in a way that people who can't travel for events in person can be in a place to watch digitally and get a nice broadcast," Barnes said. "He's also impacting younger classmates in an area that isn't always recognized publicly within a high school."

With crowd limitations last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, O'Brien realized the positive affect Smith's effort to upgrade Halstead's livestreaming could make. He agrees with Watkins' assessment that "Riley is truly a student whose impact at HHS will be felt long after he graduates."

"There's not a lot of Rileys who want to put that time and energy into something that doesn't necessarily put the spotlight back on them," O'Brien said. "Riley might say I had an impact on him. Riley has had a really big impact on me. I think he's someone that I'm going to be in touch with for a really long time."