Peers Influence Peers Partnership

The Communications Academy is pleased to announce a renewal of our relationship with the Peers Influence Peers Partnership.

Peers Influence Peers Partnership is an award winning student-based program that is dedicated to the prevention of drug and alcohol abuse among their peers. Their goal is to provide an opportunity for youth to use their influence with their peers to make healthy life style choices. This non-profit corporation creates an annual cable television show that is aired the last weekend in April to millions of homes nationwide. High school students from all parts of the United States speak to their peers about making positive choices and the dangers of substance abuse. We hope to involve all interested Tech Center students who wish to participate.

Senior Option - Four-Hour Program

Students enrolled at the Communications Academy have the option of attending for four hours a day to receive one credit for English 12, one credit for Social Studies 12 (Economics and Participation in Government), 1/2 credit for Physical Education, and 3 1/2 credits in their occupational trade. The four- hour program just completed its fifth year in existence. We had six students enrolled in the program this past school year. They attended school at the Tech Center from 8:00AM to 12:00PM, Monday through Friday. In addition, these students were also eligible to receive three credits of college level English for the course as well.

The students in four-hour often contribute to the curriculum and activities we plan throughout the year. This allows us to blend a writing intensive class with trade related projects, current events and fun experiences that everyone can appreciate.

Some of this year’s events and work included a field trip to Turkey Mountain, hosting a mock presidential election on Meet the Teacher night, our freedom of expression campaign project, college essay preparation, the stock market contest, and apple picking at the local orchard.

Scholarship News

Jean Purdy of Croton, the mother of former Tech Center student Scott Purdy and benefactor of the Scott Purdy Memorial Scholarship, presented a check last November for $1,000 to Neil Rogers-Reo from Lakeland. Neil was a TV Production student in the Communications Academy. He is currently attending Quinnipiac University and is enrolled in their School of Communications.

Mrs. Purdy established the Scott Purdy Memorial Scholarship for a promising, dedicated and talented student. Scott graduated from the Tech Center in 1975, went to college, and later secured a position in the video communications department at Morgan Stanley in New York City.

Jen Devery, who was the first recipient of this award, graduated from the Academy in June of 2000, and has since graduated from the Parsons School of Design. She is well on her way to becoming a fashion designer in Paris.

For the 2001 school year, the award was given to Jared Goldfeder, a former TV Production student from Carmel. Jared is currently working toward a degree in the television field. Other past winners include: Nicole Caggiano (TV Production, 2002) from Carmel and Nikki Gouveia (Computer Graphics, 2002) from Mahopac, and T.J. McGowan (TV Production, 2003) from Walter Panas, all of whom are pursuing further education in their chosen fields.

A new scholarship has been set up in memory of our former Commercial Art teacher. The Ingrid Boffi Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Shannon Cornale last year. Shannon was a TV Production student who is currently attending Five Towns College on Long Island. Learn more about this scholarship.

Senior Art Show held May 19th: Out of the Box

A new option for a senior exit project was given to the students this year. The option of producing and hosting their own art show was the excitement for seniors within the Communications Academy. TV Production, Computer Graphics and Commercial Art were involved and hosted a successful art show where different media were represented.

This in-depth project involved a postcard & poster design, submission of work, keeping a budget, quoting print work with a commercial printer, dealing with the media for promotion, and hanging and hosting the show. The outcome was professional and extremely fun and exciting for all who attended.

Adart Contest Winners

For the past three years a contest has been held by the local Pennysaver newspaper for students at the Communications Academy to design ads for the paper.

This year the students once again did a wonderful job and created ads for four local businesses. About thirty students participated, and four winners were chosen. The winning ads were used in the local North County News, and the student designers won cash prizes, a certificate, and a tour of the facilities.

Competition Winners

Our Television Production students placed 1st in New York State, at the Skills USA, Video Production competition, in April 2004. Neil Rogers Reo of Lakeland High School and Steven Vasquez of Briarcliff High School worked as a team to capture this award. In June 2004, they went on to represent New York State at the National Competition in Kansas, MO. These two outstanding students did a fantastic job and through their hard work and effort won third place in the Skill USA National Competition for Video Productions. Congratulations Neil and Steven!

Class Projects

The Communications Academy recently completed a Breakfast Cereal Project. Students from all three classes formed groups and acted as advertising agencies to come up with original breakfast cereal packaging and promotional items. Nine groups, consisting of five to six students, each created a cereal package, actual print ads, TV commercials, and a fully developed strategy statement. Take a look at the great job they did.

Commercial Art

This year was filled with many new and exciting projects. The second year seniors created a “You Are What You Eat” Portrait assignment with extremely creative results.

Other assignments included a product redesign, where the students redesigned an existing product and improved upon it. Then they presented their idea to the “marketing team” for approval.

Students had fun creating a Metamorphosis assignment, A World Record Illustration, Logo Design for the Sudsy Bubble Soap Company, Children’s book illustrations, Independent projects, B&W paper Sculptures. Students created emotionally driven Community Awareness Posters on such topics as Dangers of Smoking, Breast Cancer Awareness, Date Rape, Drug Abuse, PETA, Graffiti as an art form, to name a few.

The big finally of the year was a Senior Exit Art Show. This in-depth project involved a postcard & poster design, submission of work, keeping a budget, quoting print work with a commercial printer, dealing with the media for promotion, and hanging and hosting the show. The outcome was professional and extremely fun and exciting for all who attended.

For more information visit our Commercial Art Page.

Computer Graphics

The Computer Graphics class has done quite a bit this past school year. The students learned the major graphics programs: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and QuarkXPress. With these programs, the students created such things as CD covers, illustrations, self-portraits, and advertisements. In addition, they learned how to design web pages with Dreamweaver.

A fun new project which the class completed was an Art History Project where a famous artist was researched, and a piece of art was reproduced on the computer without tracing or scanning. After reproducing the piece to the best of their ability, the students changed the artwork to their liking, creating an exciting original piece!

A four-hour yearbook was designed by Katy K., as a Senior Exit Project. The end result turned out great, and was enjoyed by all.

For more information visit our Computer Graphics Page.

Television Production

Our 2004 –2005 Television Production class worked hard this school year learning the various skills associated with the television and film industry. We acquired new equipment, adding two digital video cameras and several computers with editors so students could work independently on their projects. Producing, directing, and editing were all learned through the various video projects. For these assignments, students use Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro to edit their final productions. Early in the year, students created a short video centering around a theme in which they incorporated music and photos. Second-year students produced a short segment highlighting the Communications Academy, while our first-year students worked on a stop-motion project. They created a short film using clay figures. The students shot and edited a short film with a specific theme. This class also produced a holiday video for the soldier’s over in Iraq, wishing them a safe return and showing them our gratitude. We also gave several tours to the cub scouts and girl scouts this year and enjoyed having them stop by.

Although this course concentrates on the television industry and the producing of professional programs, students have an opportunity to explore different areas such as film, radio and other mediums. All TV students worked on projects that gave them a better understanding of this field of study, and a hands-on experience which reinforces their creative and technical abilities

For more information visit our T.V. Production Page.

Visiting Colleges

The most prestigious art schools in the area have paid visits to the Communications Academy. This is a very enriching experience for the students because they get the opportunity to speak to representatives from the schools, and find out valuable information such as costs, program information, and portfolio requirements. We have been visited by the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, The College of Westchester, The Art Institute of Philadelphia,and Mercy College.