“Good Morning Salisbury! I’m Madison (Peifer) and I’m Brealyn (Steinmetz). Today is Thursday, Feb. 2.”

At the invite of Salisbury Middle School Principal Ken Parliman and Technical Education Teacher Sean Recke, The Press was able to experience firsthand the behind-the -scenes work of the students who work on the morning show SMS Live.

It was 20 years ago when The Press first visited SMS Live. It was shortly after its first broadcast Nov. 10, 2003, in the classrooms and offices of SMS.

Recke took time to show The Press the studio where the morning production takes place, explaining some of the changes that have taken place over the last two decades, including no longer producing live outside shots for security reasons.

Although there have been technological advancements, the basic concept remains the same: produce a live show, in under 30 minutes, covering the daily happenings at SMS for students, faculty and staff. Lunch menus, sports, weather, important school announcements and school activities are covered in just over three minutes, marking the start of the school day.

On the day The Press was there, Gabe Gnall was practicing reporting the weather forecast. It was Groundhog Day and this would be an important segment of the show.

He explained how much he enjoyed being part of this club.

“I joined SMS Live because I wanted to work backstage and work with all the equipment and stuff. But, I realized that in SMS Live, all the jobs are good,” Gabe Gnall said.

“I think people should join because it sets them up for better career paths with either technology, producing or any other thing that is relative to this club.”

Seeing SMS Live every morning in her classroom inspired Izabella Gonzalez to join this club.

“I saw a bunch of teamwork and people working together. I was like, I want to be able to work in a group with everybody to make this show every morning.”

She went on to say “For people who want to join in the future, I would say ... it’s really just about teamwork. If you work together, you have the best results.”

Caeden Amorim has been part of SMS Live since he first arrived at SMS in fifth grade. He is currently in charge of sound.

“I joined in fifth grade because everyone was telling me to join ‘cause they said it was super fun. So I did. And I got to learn everything,” Caeden Amorim said.

He also spoke about the mentorship from the older students toward the younger students starting out in this club and how important it was to him when he first started.

“The eighth graders then were super nice and told you how to do everything,” he said.

Caeden Amorim took the time to show The Press exactly how everything on his monitor works and which buttons “control the voices and which ones control the music.”

Kaelyn Beers is in charge of the teleprompter.

“I joined SMS Live because in fifth grade, I wanted to join a club because it was my first year in the middle school. I wanted to try the clubs ... I got accepted and learned all the jobs.”

Charlotte Neuhs, who joined back in fifth grade, said curiosity about this club brought her to try it out. “I was interested in doing this and seeing what this was about.”

New to SMS this year, Everose Figueroa chose to join SMS Live at the start of her middle school experience.

She has no regrets. She explained it provides important life skills, learned outside the traditional textbook.

“I love SMS Live because it gives you a chance to like get over a fear of talking in public.”

So what about the anchors of the morning show? What are their thoughts on this production? And what would they like to say to any SMS student interested in joining SMS Live at some point?

“I joined because I saw it every morning and I thought that it looked really fun and exciting. I was really interested in learning how tv production worked. And I feel that it’s a really healthy environment that’s going to help me in my future career paths” Madison Peifer explained.

She would love to do something in communications when she is older.

For Braelyn Steinmetz, joining SMS has been a positive in her life. “I wanted to learn to speak better, and I saw it (the morning show) every morning so I thought that it would help.”

“For anybody who wants to join SMS Live in the future, I would tell them that it sometimes can be hard when people disagree, so you have to learn to find a conclusion to do something together.”

A few weeks ago, Recke decided to get a YouTube channel for SMS Live, ensuring his students have a platform showcasing their work outside SMS.

Anyone interested in watching what these talented and hardworking middle schoolers are able to accomplish on a daily basis, can visit their channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@smslive3301.