While many students took the summer to relax and recharge, contractors and technicians were hard at work, TV Production teacher Jennifer Cornine said.

Over the summer, the TV and radio studios underwent a $1.5 million renovation.

The new TV studio equipment, Cornine said, rivals that of college broadcast studios.

“As soon as school was finished, they were in here right from the beginning demolishing things that just had to come apart,” Cornine said. “You saw the pictures on Twitter and online that it was gutted, and that was kind of scary because there’s no turning back at that point.”

Cornine said the biggest challenge was keeping the massive renovation on schedule, but there were no major issues.

She said the studio was 85 percent complete on the first day of school.

“From that point to this point today, the amount of work that was done was incredible. The crews worked weekends, they were here until eight at night. It was just amazing to see it come together,” she said.

The planning for the renovation began in fall 2014, when the district and administrators acknowledged the previous studio’s deteriorating conditions.

Much of the equipment, in place since 2001, was outdated or in disrepair.

The district explored numerous options, including a smaller technology refresh or a five-year plan to implement new equipment.

The Board of Chosen Freeholders, the county legislature, eventually approved funding for a complete renovation of the facility.

“In the end [the Freeholders] were able to say to us, ‘You know what? If we’re going to do it, let’s just do it right,’” Cornine said.

The makeover included new wiring, televisions, equipment, workstations and acoustic paneling throughout the broadcast suite.

HDTVs were also installed in each classroom throughout the school.

The renovated TV studio features high-definition Hitachi cameras, professional quality teleprompters, a new camera jib, green screen cyclorama, a redesigned lighting system and updated audio equipment.

The pedestals used to hold the cameras are the only equipment reused from the previous configuration.

In the TV control room, a new Tricaster video switcher, video routing controller, point of view camera and headset-based communication system were installed.

In addition, the radio studio and the control room were renovated and include a new digital audio mixing console, microphones and a state-of-the-art Vidigo visual radio system.

Cornine said she believes the new equipment will give students an advantage in the technical side of production and classes will focus on profi ciency in the new equipment.

“I hope that students will want to take advantage of the technology and the opportunity that’s here. I meant it when I said this is equal to or better than so many colleges,” Cornine said.