North Fort Myers' Moody Field may be tucked back off Orange Grove Boulevard, but as you roll up to it this season, you can't miss its newest addition.  

Erected behind the south end zone stands its new 14-by-24 digital scoreboard from local signage company i2 Visual. It is the only one of its kind at a high school stadium in the area and is featured prominently on the i2 Visual website.

North Fort Myers athletic director Joe Bowen said other local schools have already reached out to inquire about the scoreboard, which was installed in the spring.

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“We might be the first, but I guarantee we won’t be the last,” he said.

And besides being a new toy for hype videos and cool graphics, North Fort Myers is also utilizing the $124,000 scoreboard as an educational opportunity. 

The equipment and displays are being run by students. Twenty-nine students are enrolled in an advanced TV production class for sports broadcasting. The class, run by teachers Joe Edwards and Eric Bronson, meets every other day and focuses “on the development of materials for athletic events,” including the key task of running the digital side of the scoreboard, Edwards said.

At a recent Friday football game against Ida Baker, which was eventually postponed because of weather, the students introduced a countdown timer on the “Lighting Delay” visuals – indicating how long until the ‘all clear’ and resetting the timer according to the school district’s Lightning Alert Status.

Although fans weren’t allowed in the stands during the delay, the display was easily visible to spectators outside of Moody Field.

“A lot of people didn’t know when it would restart,” senior Aubrey St Pierre explained. 

The students rotate in pairs for every athletic event. Sitting in the press box, one student will control what viewers will see on the screen while the other one takes care of putting together the content. 

In the first semester of the class, the students are working on building the scoreboard graphics and other animations while also forging relationships with potential advertisers.

Students are responsible for securing and developing the local ads that appear on the scoreboard during games. North Fort Myers' goal is to generate $25,000 in ads per year and has already raised $20,000 this year, according to North Fort Myers Principal Debbie Diggs, with the expectation of the scoreboard's cost being covered in five years. 

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The students can also gain practical experience for the working world as certification is available in some of the editing programs they use to create scoreboard content, according to Edwards.

“They can apply a lot of the stuff they’re using in this class towards scholarships and internships,” he said.

Sophomore Nicholas Switzer took TV production classes in elementary and middle school and saw this as an opportunity to further that interest when he first heard about the class.

“All of the things they were explaining sounded very interesting to me and what I could possibly do in the future,” he said.

Students described the class as a relaxed environment where they are constantly learning new and diverse things. They even practice on the field during class time ahead of the games they work.

“Five weeks into school, and we’ve already learned a lot,” said St Pierre, who was running the scoreboard for the second time.

In addition to the novelty of the experience, St Pierre described the class as a useful item on her resume.

“It’s pretty cool to be able to say that you worked the scoreboard,” she said. “There’s two of us up here – it’s not like a lot of people can do it.”

Before the football players run out onto the field, the scoreboard plays a hype video featuring audio commentary clips of the program’s best players, players in the weight room and Red Knight legend Noel Devine throwing a pass to his son Andre, who is on the team. 

Students in the class, including players on the football team, also provide input on what they would like to see appear. St Pierre said the students are working on animations for flags, first downs and touchdowns.

“It’s using the kids’ creativity, and they’re running with it,” Bowen said.

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The technology supports add-on features like instant replays and live streaming fans in the stands.

“This year was basically just getting out feet wet,” Bowen said.

A new scoreboard was a need for the program after the old one had consistently become a problem the last four years, even shutting off in the middle of games.

The technology being something students could learn from was a big selling point, Bowen said.

Fundraising accounted for more than 30 percent of the scoreboard's price tag along with expenditures from the athletic department and the curriculum for digital media, Bowen said.

The class is in high demand, and Edwards, who has games staffed through December, anticipates it will only grow. 

“I’ve never done anything like this up on the field before, so just want to have a lot of fun and learn while I’m doing it,” Switzter said.

Whether it’s a video to hype up the football team, a display informing fans about the weather or merely a guarantee the scoreboard won’t shut off during the game, the technology has moved North Fort Myers forward.

“We thought that it would really advance the facilities, and I think that it has,” Bowen said.

Follow News-Press Sports Reporter Dustin Levy on Twitter: @DustinBLevy. For additional coverage of sports across Southwest Florida, follow @newspresssports and @ndnprepzone on Instagram.