Montrose's Skinner Center Built to Continue Beloved Mentor's Work
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 19, 2022
For more than a decade, Montrose High School has provided aspiring students one of the strongest and most lauded high school broadcast journalism programs in Michigan.
And moving forward, those students will have the opportunity to learn the craft at the newly-unveiled studio named in honor of the mentor who poured so much into those efforts.
On Thursday, MDM-TV (Montrose Digital Media – Television) opened the doors to its Thomas E. Skinner Broadcast Center, a newly-created video and audio lab, studio and production space named for Tom Skinner, a well-known Flint-area sports broadcasting voice for four decades who played a starring role in building the school’s program over his final 12 years until his death in October.
The goal was to create a fully functioning place where students can learn to create top-notch sports and news products. The network’s new home includes a podcasting lab, video and audio editing lab, studio, and control room/soundproof room for recording voiceovers. The space, formerly a distance learning lab in the middle school used most recently for storage, replaced the former studio housed in a high school classroom. MDM-TV began making the move and transformation after COVID-19 shut down the program during the spring of 2020.
Longtime teacher Jamie Kitts, who retired from fulltime classroom instruction in 2019 after 33 years in the district and remains the school’s digital media instructor and MDM-TV advisor, played a leading role in the creation of the Skinner Center – and said, frankly, the facility couldn’t have been named after anyone else. Skinner worked with the program’s on-air talent all though his dozen years, and also coordinated the summer camp for seven years.
“Tom is responsible for so much of the great work our kids have done,” Kitts said. “We could not have accomplished what we did without him. Plus, he really enjoyed working with the kids.”
Montrose’s program was named “Program of the Year” five straight from 2014-18 as part of the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards. In 2017, then-junior Eric Vandefifer was named the nation’s Best Student Broadcaster by the NFHS Network as part of its School Broadcast Program Awards. Kitts has been a finalist for the NFHS Network’s national Teacher of the Year award multiple times. Current students and Skinner proteges Danny Sackrider and Owen Leitelt recently were named the Best Sports Announcing Team in the high school division by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters – the third time Montrose has produced a winning pair.
The Skinner Center was financed through advertising sales, grants, career and technical education funding and donations, with plenty of volunteer labor and significant support from the district’s administration helping bring it to life.
Students past and present did much of the work, with local “do-everything guy” Joe Crimi playing a major role, and Kitts also gave substantial credit to the network’s sponsors Thumb Audio/Video’s Kevin Strieter.
“My wife, another retired teacher, asked me the other day, ‘What have you learned from building this broadcast center?’” Kitts said. “Typical teacher question! I have learned that even through tough times, you just can't let your dreams die. And that if you need help, just ask for it. People want to help. They just need to be asked.”
Today in the MHSAA: 3/2/20
March 2, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Four MHSAA team wrestling champions were celebrated Saturday – find coverage of all four Finals to the right – while Regional competitive cheer and bowling and league meets in boys swimming & diving added to an otherwise loaded basketball weekend across Michigan.
1. Boys Swimming & Diving: Holland West Ottawa – tied for No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 – locked up its seventh-straight Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship, finishing just ahead of No. 4 Hudsonville at the league meet – Holland Sentinel
2. Competitive Cheer: Allen Park edged Gibraltar Carlson in a Division 2 Regional that likely previewed the top contenders at this week’s Final – Southgate News-Herald
3. Boys Swimming & Diving: LPD2 honorable mention Pinckney won its first league championship, sharing the Southeastern Conference White title with No. 8 Dexter thanks to a league meet win – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
4. Bowling: The Essexville Garber girls won their first Regional title, topping runner-up Ovid-Elsie in Division 3 – Bay City Times
5. Girls Basketball: Charlevoix defeated Traverse City St. Francis to finish a Lake Michigan Conference title run, while welcoming back all-stater Elise Stuck after she missed the majority of the regular season with a knee injury – Petoskey News-Review
6. Boys Basketball: Riverview Gabriel Richard locked up its first Detroit Catholic League Tournament title since 1999 with a 63-56 win over Marine City Cardinal Mooney in the Cardinal division – State Champs Sports Network
7. Bowling: The Vandercook Lake boys and No. 7 Quincy girls won competitive Division 4 Regionals that featured the reigning team champions from Bronson; the Vikings girls are ranked No. 2 – Coldwater Daily Reporter
8. Boys Basketball: Central Montcalm clinched a share of the Central State Activities Association Gold title, its first since 2002, with a 70-48 win over Howard City Tri County – Greenville Daily News
9. Competitive Cheer: Rochester Adams outpaced Plymouth, Utica Eisenhower and Rochester to win their Division 1 Regional – Oakland Press
10. Boys Swimming & Diving: LPD1 honorable mention Zeeland won the O-K Green title by finishing first at the league meet after tying with LPD3 No. 2 Holland Christian during the dual season – Holland Sentinel
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: The Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan announced its Mr. Basketball Award finalists: Detroit Cass Tech’s Tyson Acuff, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s Lorne Bowman, Benton Harbor’s Carlos Johnson, Clarkston’s Matt Nicholson and Flint Beecher’s Jalen Terry – MLive-Detroit
Girls Basketball: Ishpeming Westwood locked up both the Western Peninsula Athletic Conference East and Mid-Peninsula Conference titles with a 38-27 win over Gwinn – Marquette Mining Journal
Girls Basketball: Parma Western downed Battle Creek Harper Creek 51-35 to clinch the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference title – JTV
Boys Basketball: Orchard Lake St. Mary’s won its first Detroit Catholic League Tournament title since 2008 with a 61-54 Bishop victory over Detroit U-D Jesuit – State Champs Sports Network
Boys Basketball: Pickford edged Rudyard 71-65 to claim the Eastern Upper Peninsula Conference championship – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
Girls Basketball: Kinde-North Huron netted a share of the North Central Thumb League Stripes title with a big win over Akron-Fairgrove – Huron Daily Tribune
Boys Basketball: Unionville-Sebewaing clinched a share of the Grater Thumb Conference West title with a 65-53 win over Bad Axe – Huron Daily Tribune
Girls Basketball: Big Rapids downed Grant 41-34 to lock up a shared CSAA Gold title with Fremont – Big Rapids News
Boys Basketball: Ovid-Elsie locked up the outright Mid-Michigan Activities Conference title with a 52-36 win over second-place New Lothrop – Mid-Michigan Now
Boys Basketball: Muskegon Western Michigan Christian and Ludington finished as co-champs in the Lakes 8 Activities Conference – Grand Haven Tribune
Girls Basketball: Alycia Patterson became Niles’ all-time leading scorer during a 28-point performance in a big win over Stevensville Lakeshore – Niles Daily Star
Boys Basketball: Brennen McNeil went over 1,000 career points with 14 in a win over Colon – Hillsdale Daily News
Football: Former Grand Rapids West Catholic coach Dan Rohn has been hired to take over Warren De La Salle Collegiate – Detroit Free Press