C-SPAN School Bus stops at the fair Project targets teachers, students

BANGOR – Parked in the midst of all the rides, games and fried dough booths, the C-SPAN School Bus visited the Bangor State Fair on Thursday with a slightly more educational goal in mind – teaching the public about politics, government, media and public affairs.

The C-SPAN School Bus was created to bring the network’s services to communities across the country and to help teachers and students use C-SPAN as a resource in middle and high school history, civics and social studies classes, as well as at colleges and universities.

Thursday’s visit was rather sparsely attended, though that perhaps can be chalked up to both the time of day – 1 p.m. on a Thursday is not the most heavily attended period of time for the fair – and the fact that, given the choice, the average 11-year-old probably will choose the Tilt-a-Whirl over a learning experience.

John Ximenes, a community relations representative for C-SPAN, was on board the 45-foot, bright-yellow motorcoach Thursday. He stressed that during the school year, the bus works directly with middle and high schools, while during the summer it visits visit towns during various local events for a more informal educational experience.

“We aim to provide supplemental information for teachers,” said Ximenes, who has been working with the bus for several years. “We provide videos and in-classroom demonstrations, as well as showing students our on-board production studio in order to teach them about the media.”

The bus operates as a kind of mobile classroom and is outfitted with video monitors, television equipment and computers. It is capable of broadcasting live events from the locations it visits.

As a free public service offered through cable television, C-SPAN broadcasts the U.S. House and Senate while they are in session, as well as congressional hearings, White House press briefings, speeches and other important public affairs events.

C-SPAN receives no government funding; it is funded entirely by the cable and satellite affiliates that carry it. It is available in 84 million households, while the additional C-SPAN networks, C-SPAN 2 and C-SPAN 3, are available in up to 67 million households nationwide.

The bus has visited all 50 states and has logged more than 300,000 miles since it was launched in 1993. A second bus was added in 1996 by popular demand. Cable affiliates sponsor the bus as it makes stops in each state. The bus’s six stops in Maine this week were sponsored by Adelphia Communications.

Kathy Hounsell, director of government and community affairs for Adelphia, traveled with the bus during its trek through Maine.

“The C-SPAN School Bus has visited Maine several times,” Hounsell said Thursday. “Before this stop at the Bangor State Fair, we visited the Auburn Public Library, Fort Western in Augusta, the National Night Out in Lewiston and the Lobster Festival in Rockland. We’re headed to Brunswick after Bangor.”

Hounsell said Adelphia was proud to sponsor the C-SPAN School Bus, noting that Adelphia is committed to providing services such as C-SPAN to the community, and hopes to sponsor the bus on its next swing through Maine.

“We want to reach out to everyone,” Ximenes added, “to show them that C-SPAN is a valuable public resource. It’s important to be informed about the political process, and C-SPAN can help people do that.”