The Challenge Course

After making two visits to the outdoor course this fall, students took part in such activities as The Trust Walk, The T.P. Shuffle, and The Water Wheel. These challenges helped the classes to develop problem solving and leadership skills, in addition to forcing the students to trust each other in difficult situations.

Led by Vito Rinaldo, the Communications Academy students will take more trips to the challenge course when the weather warms up in the Spring. With each visit to the course, the activities become more complex and require the students to build upon the skills they have previously developed. Students are asked to reflect on and write about these experiences in their journals.

Take a look at some pictures from the challenge course!

Board Game Project

Communications Academy students currently completed a Board Game Project. For this assignment, students formed agencies that contained representatives from each class. The groups contained 6-7 people each. For completion of the project, the following had to be created: an original board game which was fully playable, a magazine print ad, an agency logo, a radio commercial, and a TV commercial. Take a look at the games and promotional items that the students developed.

Read the assignment that was given to the students.

Class Projects

Students at the Communications Academy recently completed a Board Game Project. This was a project in which students from all three classes formed groups and acted as advertising agencies to come up with original board games and promotional items. Eleven groups were formed, consisting of five to eight students. Actual playable board games, packaging, print, and television advertisements were created by our students. Take a look at the great job they did.

Also check out the Board Game Project from three years ago.

Television Production

The Television Production students worked hard this school year, learning the various facets of the trade. Producing, directing, and editing were all learned through the completion of a variety of projects. For these assignments, all students use the Avid system to edit their final productions. Early in the year, students created a short video centering around a theme, where they incorporated music and photos. Second-year students then produced a short segment highlighting the Communications Academy, while first-year students worked on a stop-motion project. They created a short film using clay figures.

Although this course concentrates on the television industry and the production of professional programs, students had the opportunity to explore different areas such as film and radio. These 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.

Commercial Art

The Commercial Art students have been busy this past school year, completing various projects which will help them to build their portfolios. They started the year off with an illustration project in which they had a choice of many different mediums. Composition was explored through the 8-Parts Project in which students had to use 8 geometric shapes to create different arrangements. This project utilized various mediums such as pencil, ink, and gouache. Also, two observation drawings were completed by all Commercial Art students. These drawings are a very important part of the students' portfolios, because the art schools put a lot of emphasis on drawing skills. These drawings were completed using ebony, charcoal, and pastels. In addition, the students explored logo design and advertisement layout.

For more information visit our Commercial Art Page.

Computer Graphics

The Computer Graphics class has done quite a bit this past school year. The first-year students learned the three major graphics programs: Illustrator, Photoshop, 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. Second-year students designed playing cards using original themes and symbols for suits, and learned a 3D animation program called Bryce 4, with which they designed surrealistic images and environments for a new video game. Flash was also learned by the second-year students in order to create animated quotes and electronic greeting cards.Lessons involving typography, color theory, and layout enabled all Computer Graphics students to successfully complete advertisements for the Board Game Project.

For more information visit our Computer Graphics 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 Westchester Business Institute, The Art Institute of Philadelphia,and Mercy College.