This is a contribution from a Swampscott High School student, as part of the Swampscott Tides Big Blue Student News selection. 

By Sasha Fafel

Swampscott High School’s Film and TV Club will host its first “Friday Flix” event on March 20 at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium. The film and TV club will screen the 1986 classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”

The event, which is for students and families of the Swampscott Public Schools, will kickstart monthly fundraisers toward raising money for Swampscott High School’s TV and media arts program. Proceeds will support student projects and the purchase of new equipment.

Swampscott High School’s Head of Media Arts, JoE Douillette, said the department provides “opportunities for students who are interested in electronic types of art forms, which could be for film production, could be for music, and for television and sports production to kind of get that experience.” 

The school is working to establish media arts as its third Innovative Pathway, with an application currently under review at the state level. If approved, the pathway would begin in the 2026-27 school year, joining the business and finance as well as advanced manufacturing and engineering programs. 

“There’ll be two kinds of tracks: one would be more art based and the film kids and one would be more journalism and broadcast news based. And so kids can jump in and try either one of those classes and then decide in which direction they might want to go in,” Douillette said. 

The developing media arts program, Douillette explained, is “not cheap to run, so it needs a lot of financial support. And that’s what this (Friday Flix) is.”

Tickets can be purchased day of, for $5. The event is free for those over the age of 60. The Media Arts Lab will also be selling concessions.