Northwood High sophomore Austin Farmer positions himself about six feet in front of a video camera, studio lights beaming on him from all angles, a grey backdrop to his rear.

Farmer is doing his first ever stint as the sports anchor for Northwood TV, the school's weekly video news show.

The rookie sportscaster begins rattling off lines from a teleprompter just below the camera, something about the Northwood basketball team losing to Foothill a day earlier.

After a few takes, Farmer nails the script perfectly.

"It's pretty scary but exciting to get the opportunity to do this," Farmer said. "This is cool. Not many people get to do this."

Farmer considers himself fortunate to be one of 18 students in Northwood's video production program. Using much of the same equipment as the pros in a state-of-the-art campus studio, NTV's productions have captured awards at national and local competitions.

NTV students won second place for a music video at the Student Television Network's National Convention Contest in 2007, and first place in that category in 2006.

The student movie "Step 17" won best Short Film at the Orange County Film Festival, a county festival organized by FilmEd. A feature on the Santiago Canyon fires captured first place for Spot Feature. Teacher and adviser Tina Murphy was named Mentor of the Year at the festival in 2006.

"My heart of this program is to create real world situations for these students to see if this is what they want to do," said teacher and adviser Tina Murphy, who started the program at Northwood in 2001 after mentoring a similar program at Mission Viejo High, where she taught video production classes. At Northwood, Murphy has added filmmaking and broadcast news to her curriculum.

She has experience in line production, doing freelance work for ESPN and the Discovery Channel.

"I like to see them feel good about what they are doing," she said. "It makes my heart happy."

Watching her fellow students appear on camera in quality productions is what drew senior Wesleigh Ogle to NTV as a junior.

Now, Ogle is the news anchor and casting director.

"Since I was a freshman, I saw them on TV and it looked like so much fun," said Ogle, who appears relaxed in front of the camera. "Before it seemed so far away but now I know that I can actually do it. It gives me confidence."

Murphy said the success of NTV comes from the dedication of the students, who benefit from a partnership between the school and Coastline Regional Occupation Program.

The school provides the studio space, a working control room, cameras and personal computers, while Coastline ROP provides much of the advanced editing software and Macintosh machines. This collaboration between the school and ROP gives Murphy's students more resources, translating to a more advanced program.

FilmEd, a company that helps students produce DVD yearbooks, also provides advanced equipment and training. Northwood's students are currently using a Redrock lens adapter, valued at about $15,000, which was loaned to them by FilmEd.

NTV students attend an 80-hour workshop taught by FilmEd owner, David Junker, where they learn to use the cutting-edge equipment.