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The History of the VCHS Communications Department 1995
The Valley Christian High School Communications Department was established at the Valley Christian
Branham campus in the fall of 1995. This was the pivotal year of inspiration to launch what would become
one of the finest high school Communications Departments in the nation.
The first broadcast Communications courses in 1995 were Intro to TV/Film, taught by Brian Kaelin and
theater teacher, Ken Hill, and Radio Broadcasting taught by Brian Kaelin. At that time, journalism and
yearbook were not officially in the Communications Department. In 1994, Diann Fugate began teaching
Journalism and publishing The Warrior newspaper. Fugate worked with Hillary Estes on the annual school
yearbook and in 1995 joined the Communications staff of photography and broadcasting teachers, Brian
Kaelin and Jim Howell . The first video class had 12 students (7 boys, 5 girls). The first radio class had 27
students (24 boys and 3 girls). The original radio course began its first year with no budgeted funds. The first
day of class had 27 students crowding around a folding table, a broadcast console retrieved from a dumpster,
a pair of Shure SM57 microphones, and a couple of portable CD players pulled from faculty cars. The first
year surplus broadcast equipment was scrounged from local radio stations, Biola University, and from
various friends of the school. In early 1996, the PTPF (parent‐teacher prayer fellowship) donated funds to
purchase additional microphones, headsets and a pair of studio monitors.
VCS Superintendent, Dr. Clifford Daugherty said, "God used Brian Kaelin to envision, found and develop the
Valley Christian Schools Communications Department. Through that innovation and development the
department became a leading high school radio and video program in the world, through his vision, passion
and dedication. The greatest strength of Brian Kaelin's contribution is that his vision captured the hearts of
his students, the school leadership, and the talented engineering capabilities of Werner Vavken, the technical
mind behind the dynamic development of Digital Microwave Systems of Silicon Valley."
Dr. Daugherty went on to say, "The Communications Department at Valley Christian High School was the first
department that truly embodied the Quest for Excellence, and it raised the prospect of what could be
accomplished by the Lord Jesus, in the hearts and minds of students at a small but hopeful Christian High
School. Indeed, the proof of the power and potential of the Quest for Excellence was first evidenced at Valley
Christian Schools Communication Department under the direction of Brian Kaelin.”
Werner Vavken and Brian Kaelin started the world's first high school Internet radio station after visiting an
Internet convention in San Francisco. The first KVCH Internet Radio broadcast went live the week before
Thanksgiving 1995. Within one year, more than 1 million unique visitors had listened to KVCH. Based on
email feedback and the statistics from Real Audio, KVCH had hundreds of regular listeners from all over the
world. The students produced daily live programs between 6 AM and 5 PM. Pre‐recorded programming was
available during overnight hours. Live‐remote broadcasts were a regular part of the curriculum and included
weekly sporting events, concerts, the Billy Graham Crusade, Promise Keepers, two annual music festivals, as
well as a weekly live talk show that included live performances from new and emerging artists who visited
the Bay Area. Students generated advertising revenue to help support the program, including selling ad
packages for home basketball and baseball broadcasts. KVCH was the first station listed in the Alternative
section of the Real Audio station presets and was also featured as one of CMJ's Top Internet Broadcasters in
the spring of 1997. Valley Christian High School students have been broadcasting online over KVCH radio
ever since.
After Kaelin left Valley Christian in 2000, Donny Fugate was hired as KVCH Radio General Manager and head
of the growing Communications Department. In 2005 KVCH radio marked its 10th anniversary with a gala
celebration. During the first year of the film and video production course, the program was lucky to have a
single 486 computer running a fancy dos‐based D‐Vision non‐linear editing system, which featured a huge 9
gig external hard‐drive. The class also had access to three single‐chip full‐size SVHS cameras, which were
shared between 12 students to shoot the school's first self‐produced video yearbook. After the first year of
courses, the program moved into a spacious facility on the Branham campus, which featured 5 individual
production studios, offices for the radio staff, and a large classroom/distance learning facility. The student
population between the 2 sections of Radio and 2 sections of Video at that time was 81. Dr. Clifford
Daugherty, Werner Vavken and Ken Hill were the prime movers selling the Communications Department
concept, and developing funding and support for the programs, along with a small army of supportive
parents, volunteering time and money to create what has today become the modern state‐of‐the‐art Dr.
Clifford Daugherty Communications and Technology Center on the Skyway campus of Valley Christian High
School.
Pastor Don Fugate taught the Video Yearbook course and produced the Video Yearbook on tape and then
DVD, from 2000 ‐ 2004, with two classes dedicated to videotaping and editing the various Video Yearbook
segments. The Video Yearbook documented the entire school year in pictures and sound. In 2002, Terry
McElhatton, a TV news veteran with 28 years of experience in both radio and television news, joined the
VCHS team as Director of Communications, teaching the Intro to TV/Video/Film courses, then adding
Advanced TV and Applied TV. McElhatton then developed the Art of Filmmaking course, which offered
students UC approved Fine Arts credit. Along with the television and video courses, The Art of Filmmaking
became the second spoke in the visual communications wing, offering budding filmmakers an opportunity to
further explore that art form. Nate Marshall, a graduate of the Biola University Film School, came on board in
2004 to teach the craft of filmmaking. Marshall and his wife, Lindsey, both professional screenwriters,
developed and added a Scriptwriting course to the Communications Department offerings, designed to
develop film screenwriters at an early age. The scriptwriting class feeds the filmmaking courses with
screenplays. In the fall of 2005 the Advanced Television students began webcasting live coverage of selected
home games in various sports, including football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball. School
events were also webcast, such as the Poetry Slam, school plays and dance shows.
In 2008 Lauren McElhatton joined the Communications Department staff to teach UC approved Photo
Journalism and Advanced Photo Journalism. Her skills were a great add to the staff and her classes provided
all the photos for The Vanguard yearbook as well as The Warrior newspaper.
The VCHS Communications department is a work constantly in progress; it keeps growing and evolving as
students continue to produce award‐winning work. It’s exciting to look out over the horizon to see what God
has in store for the department next as we work to serve Him and Glorify His name, in our ongoing Quest for
Excellence!