PITTSFIELD - The giggling stopped when the cameras started.

In an instant, the seven Miss Hall's School students - six juniors and one senior - turned from teenage girls to television producers in the Pittsfield Community Television studio on a recent Thursday morning.

They were quiet and intent on their goals: the immediate one of producing a 20-plus-minute segment of "School For Thought" featuring Taconic High School Principal Doug McNally and six Taconic students, and the longer-term one of gaining valuable work experience that will help shape their futures.

The students were at PCTV, as they are every Thursday morning during the school year, as part of Miss Hall's School's Horizons program. The program gives students in all four grades the opportunity to broaden their experiences beyond the classroom.

The freshmen work in groups on campus to practice "Service to the School." The sophomores volunteer in small groups off-campus at places like schools and nursing homes for "Service to the Community." The juniors volunteer in groups of two to eight at residential facilities or the TV station, for instance, for "Supporting a Strong Community." And the seniors explore career and personal interests individually with local businesses and organizations.

"It's a program that nurtures that sense of aspiration they have," said Jeannie Norris, head of the private girls school in Pittsfield.

Norris pointed out that in the past, when society was based on agriculture, teenagers knew they were needed to work on the farms. These days, teens don't have that kind of outlet.

"In what way is it possible for a teen to feel needed?" Norris said, then answered her own question. "Horizons gives them that opportunity."

The seven teenagers at Pittsfield Community Television certainly were needed. Without them, there would be no "School For Thought," a series that brings in public school officials to talk about programs they offer.

The girls do everything, from putting up and taking down the set to designing the graphics to working on scripts to actually filming the show - and they learn to do it in a short period of time.

"That first show is always a little nerve-wracking," said Shawn Seere, the station's education coordinator and the Horizons program site supervisor. "But they get really good really quickly."

For instance, this recent Thursday was only the group's sixth or seventh week at the station, and they were nothing but efficient as they broke down the set and cleaned up after the Taconic show.

Seere, who said the station has participated in the Horizons program for more than 10 years, said he values that professionalism.

"I honestly forget that they are high school kids sometimes," he said. Still, a little encouragement goes a long way, especially when dealing with young people.

"Great job today," Seere called out as the group's senior and diector, Kasey Cocivera, walked by.

Cocivera, from Farmington, Conn., knew that Pittsfield Community Television was the place for her when she was deciding where to spend her senior year. She knew because she spent her junior year there behind a camera.

"I fell in love," she said.

Now, she said, she looks forward to her weekly service with unbridled enthusiasm. "Thursdays. Horizons. I'm there," she said.

That kind of excitement is typical of the experiences students have in the program, both Norris and program director Marcia August said.

"Most of them are pretty positive," August said.

But even the ones who are less than positive still present a learning opportunity, not only as a way for students to learn what kinds of things they don't enjoy but also as a way for students to learn to make the most of something that isn't exactly thrilling them - something most adults have had to deal with at some point, she said.

"This is part of the program," August said. "This is the reality of life."

The Horizons program typically ranks in the top 10 of what the students enjoyed most about Miss Hall's when they fill out surveys before they graduate, Norris said.

"The girls see it as a way to be bigger in the world," she said.

Not only do the girls see the program as positive, so do the sites that host a Horizons student.

Karen Karlberg is community outreach coordinator for the Berkshire Humane Society, which has hosted a group of four Horizons students for the last several years. There, the girls not only are allowed to cuddle and play with the animals, but they also get to do important tasks like draw blood for tests and help with training. Karlberg she doesn't know what the facility would do without the girls.

"They're really welcomed," Karlberg said.

In fact, Karlberg said, the humane society (which is one of the most popular Horizons sites) really misses them when they're gone.

"We miss them in the summer," she said. "The staff says, 'Darn, our girls are gone.'"

That, of course, is the nature of high school students - they graduate and leave.

But at Miss Hall's, through the Horizon's program, they leave with perhaps a better understanding of their strengths and interests for their futures.

Take Liney Vreeland, a junior from Lakeville, Conn., who is part of the TV station crew. She always knew she was a technical person - she gets that from her father, she said - but working at the station has allowed her to see another side of herself.

Vreeland plans to go into pharmacology but has learned a little something from the station stint.

"I've had the hidden creativity bit," she said. "This is what I have fun doing."

And take Elizabeth Rutledge of Pittsfield, another TV crew junior who always knew she loved writing and might end up being a journalist. She had been involved mainly in the audio side of things until she took a stab at the camera work this recent Thursday - and that was OK.

"I like getting involved in all the aspects," she said.

Even when Vreeland and Rutledge and all of the other current students grow up and move on and create lives for themselves, they always will carry Horizons with them, if the past is any indication.

Norris tells the story of a Miss Hall's graduate who came back to talk to current students about her experience interning with the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, an extremely competitive program which she was chosen for over older applicants in large part because of her Horizons resume.

The graduate told the students, "Girls, I saw things that I never knew about. I have made a difference in people's lives."

"You could have heard a pin drop," Norris said. "I had tears in my eyes."