Senior Shubha Chakravarty has recently started a new series of segments on Mountain View Television broadcasts with Mountain View High School teachers. Each segment is constructed around an activity where Chakravarty talks with teachers and allows students to get to know the teachers in a setting outside of school.

The idea was sparked during a fire alarm drill where Chakravarty and Broadcasting advisor Amy Beare were trying to brainstorm ideas for a new segment.

Chakravarty works with fellow senior Dominique Lau to put the production together. Lau is in charge of filming and all the artistic and visual aesthetics, while Chakravarty is in front of the camera interacting with the teachers.

Teachers are selected randomly, and together, Chakravarty and the teacher come up with an activity. In the future, she hopes to feature newly tenured teachers and the principal.

Previous activities have included grilling quinoa burgers with math teacher Mr. Darby and mini golfing with science teacher Dr. Thornburg.

Chakravarty has been surprised with the featured teachers’ willingness to participate in these segments, noting that even teachers who she initially expected to not be interested were very open to the idea.

“The purpose behind this is to create community, because as students learn more about their teachers, it really brings community together because students see teachers in a new light and I think that can be beneficial for the entire school,” Chakravarty said.

Chakravarty enjoys filmmaking and has a great deal of experience from working at The Media Center a local TV station in Palo Alto for the past 3 years. She hopes to continue the segments until she graduates at the end of this year.

“It’s one of those accidents that turned out really well. Without that fire alarm drill, this wouldn’t have become a reality,” Chakravarty said.