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Flickering lights and the power was out.  Computers, printers, and Smartboards, all with blank screens stared dully at startled students.

Snap. Power on. Pop. Power off. And, so it went.

Journalism I students, news unit tests in hand, were offered the opportunity to cover real-time breaking news in lieu of a formal assessment. Students walked outside, immediately alerted by sirens that news was unfolding.

No one was hurt and no students, faculty, or staff was involved in the incident.

However, crumpled into a pole on the corner of Great Neck Rd. and Shorehaven Dr. was a white van, next to a white car, complete with a white pole and downed power lines.  The cause of the school’s power outage became clear.

While the rest of the class was told to stay back for safety reasons, juniors Phoebe Large and Seyler Robertson headed straight to the accident scene, where photos were taken and interviews were conducted with involved parties and witnesses via podcast.

“Even though they were just in an accident, when we told them we were student reporters, they were eager to talk to us. The man in the van explained what happened and one of the witnesses had a video of the actual [explosion],” Large said.