A new student-produced documentary, created in the style of popular home improvement shows like “This Old House,” premiered on YouTube on May 15, 2025. The documentary focuses on the stabilization and restoration of the historic Opaline Schoolhouse on the east side of campus.
Nathan Snyder, Boise State media lecturer and director of University Television Productions, headed the documentary project. He described it as a unique collaboration among students, university staff and facilities managers, commercial contractors, and community members.
Like so many projects and programs at Boise State, producing “Restoring Opaline: A Historic Schoolhouse and a Lesson in Documentary Production” gave students hands-on experience. They honed skills in interviewing, filming, editing, and storytelling—key skills for educational media and documentary filmmaking.
A good end to a long conversation
The project started a few years ago when a student approached Snyder about filming a piece about the old school. Snyder had just finished restoring a 145-year-old building in Placerville, Idaho, and was in a preservation mindset. He spoke with Barb Beagles, facilities executive director, and started the conversation about creating a class focused on repairing and documenting the building’s repairs. Eventually, budget was committed and the idea took off.
“I thought we really need to do something with this awesome smaller building and it’s due,” said Drew Alexander, associate vice president for Campus Operations. “We can showcase the work that we do within campus operations and elevate the importance of one of the historic buildings that we have on campus.”
For the past year, around 30 students have worked on the project. Their work was not limited to documentation. Whenever there was a chance for them to pick up a hammer, they did.
During productions, some friction inevitably brews among students, Snyder said. This is especially true in the television program, where a tight-knit cohort takes classes and works on projects together for years, developing the kind of familiarity that inspires blunt conversations. But on this project, there were times when “everybody synced up,” Snyder said. “People were willing to fill in, do jobs that needed to be done. It was so rewarding to see that.”
There’s nothing like a first-person account
Using state-of-the-art production equipment, students documented and interviewed the crews that painted the Opaline Schoolhouse, replaced its roof and siding, and repaired its windows. Highlights in the film include an interview with 104-year-old Dorothy Vauk, who taught at the Opaline School in the 1940s. She recalled teaching the children of workers in the CCC, or Civilian Conservation Corps, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s public work program during the Great Depression.
“We have history in this country,” Snyder said. “You don’t have to go to Europe to find it. Hopefully, we can echo that history.”
The university will use the restored building as an event space – potentially for receptions after weddings at nearby, and equally historic Christ Chapel – and as a meeting spot for football tailgating. “It is a prime location for tailgates,” Beagles said. “You can see the jumbotron and be front and center in all the activity. It will be an amazing space for us.”
Just how did the Opaline Schoolhouse end up on campus?
Snyder’s and the students’ work is shining a light on a deserving campus treasure. The one-room Opaline Schoolhouse, tucked beside Albertsons Stadium, has a rich history detailed by Boise State Special Collections and Archives. Built in 1914 near Marsing, Idaho, the school opened to serve 13 seventh- and eighth-graders in one of Idaho’s most remote counties. It operated until the 1950s when the Opaline Water Board began using the building for storage and as a meeting space. In the 1980s, Boise State President John Keiser began searching for a historic school building to mark the university’s 50th anniversary. The water board donated its building, and Boise State took possession in 1984. Members of the Idaho Air National Guard helped move the old school to campus and did some restoration. Community members donated historically appropriate furnishings.
More about the television program at Boise State
The program produces around 100 programs each year. They range from state board of education programs to lecture series and theater productions. Shoots for which the program charges include coverage of club sports and tournaments, experience particularly valuable for students interested in working in sports media, Snyder said. Students also produce an original video magazine. Snyder is looking ahead to future projects, which, inspired by the Opaline Schoolhouse, may include a documentary about other one-room schoolhouses in Idaho.
Find all programs on the Boise State TV YouTube channel.