It's every journalist's dream: a state of the art media studio with professional grade (or sometimes even better) equipment, software and resources.

But this isn't a dream. It's the Media Literacy Center at Summit High School.

The center, which opened last spring thanks to a grant slightly more than $250,000 from the Summit Educational Foundation, is a new destination for students and staff looking to enhance the curriculum with multimedia projects and those in the media literacy program learning about the production and consumption of media.

"One of the great things that we have are our facilities, schools that are really professional grade," said Summit High School Principal Paul Sears. "The boundaries are really limitless."

The studio features three professional grade video cameras, a green screen, a computer lab loaded with the latest video editing software including iMovie and FinalCut Express and a state of the art control room.

"Kids come in that never did anything and the teacher says 'do this and do that' and they do it," said station manager Charlie Steiner said. "It's all pretty simple to use."

Steiner, who is currently pursuing his master's in journalism and history at New York University, has had a lengthy career as a photojournalist before becoming an educator. His work has appeared in such publications as LIFE, Newsweek, and the New York Times Magazine.

He now helps students and staff use the equipment and learn video production techniques. Not only are classes in disciplines able to schedule time in the studio for projects, students can also get involved with a new co-curricular called Video Club run by Kevin Shauer. A weekly football show with game highlights, coach and player interviews produced in the Media Literacy Center is aired on Comcast Channel 64 and Verizon Channel 28.

Sears also said they hope to open the studio up to the district's other students, such as those at Jefferson School who already produced their own show called "Roaring Jaguar TV."

One of the keys to the studio is it's digital nature. Unlike other high school studies that use old-fashioned film cameras, Summit's records digital files.

"A kid can sit down and Charlie can say 'here's the 10 minute file and sit down and play with it, you're not damaging it,'"Sears said. "Charlie's very good at encouraging kid's to try and play."

The room, formerly a photo classroom and darkroom, was perfect for the conversion to the studio, Sears added.

"It's an inside room with no windows," he said. "But the renovation is more than obvious, it's not just the cameras."

Sears said special quiet heating and insulation needed to be installed to soundproof the studio from outside influences.

But the center is more than just production. A new curriculum for the Media Literacy Program accompanies the center.

Corey Walsh, English Department Supervisor and one of the Media Literacy program leaders, teachers a new elective called "21st Century Media."

"What I'm trying to help coordinate is not only a growth in people applying and using those different resources that we have, but that they sort of understand that even though the technology is going to change overtime, there are these underlying principles and skills that students are learning about how to consume messages and media," Walsh said. "So it doesn't really matter whether some total new thing we've never seen before pops up in the next few years, like the next Facebook or something, kids will still be able to adapt into that and we'll be flexible enough as a school district to be able to say 'well OK how can we teach about this thing?'"

The program teaches students about what goes into the production of messages but also how to be responsible consumers.

We are looking at production and consumption of media and the responsibility that kids need to pick up for both," Sears said. "We certainly see in the media every day where people aren't being responsible with either one or just accepting what they get."

Steiner said by showing students how they can use the technology to craft a message, it helps them not only be more creative in communicating their own messages but also to be more critical of the messages coming at them every day.

"When you make something and realize how you can manipulate things, then you can really understand how you're being manipulated when you see a political commercial or whatever," he said.

Walsh said his goals for the program are for it to become as desired and respected as the arts programs in the district.

"This is the perfect type of program for that because they know it's part of their lives," he said. "What's new to them is taking a step back and reflecting on what is coming at me and how am I processing that?"