With only minutes until show time, production assistants untangle wires, set up props, and position lighting equipment. In a corner, a handful of newscasters huddling to review their scripts shout across the room for pens and make last-minute changes.

It’s a scene typical to any television newsroom, but this one in particular happens to be staffed and run entirely by teenagers. 

The newsroom is home to Teen to Teen News, a new after-school program started in the fall of 2008 in the basement of the Mosholu Montefiore Community Center in Norwood.

The program allows students to experience the basic elements of a newsroom: using lighting equipment, sitting at an anchor desk and using a camera. The students even created a handmade city landscape that serves as a backdrop to their news reports and features.

The program is designed as “a way [for youth] to have input on what’s happening in the community,” said Carlos Laboy, the Teen to Teen program director. “[It’s a] program to keep [teens] off the streets. Keeping these kids involved in something that’s positive.”

Teen to Teen was originally a class to teach teenagers how to use a video camera, but there was little interest in the program. Like a low-rated TV show, it was on the verge of being canceled when Laboy changed the focus of the program to teen broadcast journalism. He envisioned a news program that was made by teens, for teens.

He then invited students from his theater program, Stage Kids, to participate. Teen to Teen now boasts a team of nine students who have all been involved in the program since the beginning.

“We want to send a message that you can do whatever, and be whatever,” said Nikki Glinsky, a 17-year-old reporter and student at Harry S. Truman High School in Baychester. “That’s what we want to tell our viewers.”

After enrolling in the program, the teens spent months learning how to operate the camera, edit footage using iMovie and sit properly at the anchor desk without fidgeting. Teens also had to learn how to read from their scripts while constantly looking up from their papers and into the camera.  

The program meets every Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., though students often arrive early and stay late, Laboy says.

During meetings, students brainstorm topics and assign stories. Outside of class, students spend several hours a week researching and writing stories that cover health, entertainment, fashion and news. Each student covers a different beat.

The team has already recorded their first episode, “Take 1,” which covered a range of issues including gang violence, the Gardasil vaccine for teen girls, and the hit movie, “Twilight.” The teens are now rehearsing for the taping of their second episode.

Though Laboy wants the show to be from the prospective of teens, he tells his students, “I don’t want a goofy show.”

Once students write their segments, Laboy works with head writer and production manager, Jennifer Leon, 16, a student at Pelham Prep Academy in Bronxwood, to edit the scripts for clarity and content. During rehearsals, Laboy and Leon sit across from the anchor desk and watch the team in action to provide additional edits after each cut.

“Carlos wants it to be a program where kids run it,” said Leon. “It’s fun when I write something, and it’s great when my script comes to life. Hopefully Bronxnet will see it and it will get on TV. I hope teens will see it and like it.”

“As we continue our takes, they will get better at it,” said Laboy. “[The goal is to] put on a show that’s entertaining that we can get a lot of viewers to watch.” (Right now it’s only available on the MMCC Web site – mmcc.org.)

In the future, Laboy would like the show to air twice a month, but first the program has to overcome a couple of obstacles.

Laboy is pleased with the current number of students and their dedication to the program, but he still wants to recruit more students. Limited funding is another challenge. A handheld camcorder, which they use for production, is fine for recording family memories, but is not the proper tool for recording a television show.

But these challenges don’t prevent the team from covering issues that affect teens.

In its second episode, the team will cover teen suicide, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion’s new urban policy position in Washington and the hit MTV show, “America’s Best Dance Crew.”

“I want to see cablevision come pick us up,” said 15-year-old Rebecca Torres, a camera operator and student at the High School for American Studies. “I think this is cool for the Bronx to have.”

The program has been a positive outlet for teens in the program and they hope the show will inspire their teen audience.

“A lot of us grew up with violence and this program helps you realize there is more,” said Benjamin Berrios, 16, co-anchor and student at the Collegiate Institute for Math and Science in Morris Park. “Even though we are in that dark tunnel, we tell each other that there is that light out there.”

Ed. note: The first episode of Teen to Teen News, “Take 1,” can be viewed on the MMCC website: www.mmcc.org. For more information about the program, call (718) 882-4000.