CCHS Journalism Classes Releases Mobile Phone Application

The Cathedral City High School digital storytelling class has released a mobile phone application available on iTunes and the Android Market.

Search CCNews to download the application.

The application was built by Zane Allyn and Nick Bolland of the IT Department of the Desert Sun, our partner in this project.
Here's where you will find the latest news on what's happening:

http://digitalnatives.net/ccnews/

The Changing Landscape of the News Business

While acknowledging that the traditional newspaper is rapidly vanishing, Desert Sun Executive Editor Greg Burton (left) told students Wednesday morning that "The core of this business will be the story. It was that way fifty years ago, and it will be that way 50 years from now."

Burton and Desert Sun digital reporter Brian Indrelunas (middle) were dialoguing with Matt Hamilton's journalism students about social media intersecting with traditional reporting and the opportunity and responsibility reporters hold in their hand.

"Our industry has really changed in the last decade," Burton said. "When I was a young reporter 10 or 15 years ago, we came into a news room and it wasn't wired like this," he said, pointing to banks of networked computers. "We sat down and talked about the news that was going on and set our timing for our deadlines for the monstrosity of a printing press out back. Everybody was focused on the getting the best story to put on the spools of paper that would be printed and delivered by the next morning at 6 a.m.

"Today, if you are waiting for that 6 a.m. paper on your doorstep to get your information, you're the last one to know what is going on."

Indrelunas is one example of a modern newsgatherer, spending some his time scouring Facebook and Twitter and other social media for trending stories.

"Instead of waiting for a 20-inch story to be written, processed, and edited 15 times, sometimes we only need a headline on our web site. And as we get details, we can keep expanding that story all day."

Burton called Inderlunas "the new model of what our industry has become."

The Desert Sun web site gets 200,000 hits daily.

Filmmakers in the Classroom Series Begins at CCHS

Playwright John Steppling (right) and Education Outreach Director Ken Jacobson kicked off the Filmmakers in the Classroom series in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School Friday morning.

As Steppling explained at the beginning of class, one of the purposes of the series is to help the students develop a critical vocabulary and learn how to analyze a film. "Art tends to ask questions," Steppling said in his introduction. "You don't have to answer those questions. The most important questions are those that can't be answered."

Digital Storytelling is just one course offered in the Digital Arts Technology Academy at CCHS.

After watching the opening of "The Killers," Steppling and Jacobson engaged the students in discussion of what they observed. "Film is a pervasive, ubiquitous art form, an all pervasive medium and an important one" Steppling said. "You add up all the hours of narrative, thousands of hours, and it's hard to create something that stands out from the tsunami of film of film."

The idea for this series, which will occur twice a month, resulted from a meeting Hamilton, Jacobson and Steppling set up during the summer.

"The Palm Springs Film Festival is interested in engaging the future filmmakers in our community, and my students are excited to have people who have been intimately involved in film share their experiences and expertise," said Hamilton

DATA Senior Party

The DATA senior party is a chance for DATA students and teachers to get together for one last time as an Academy. This year's party was held June 2, the last school day for seniors. DATA will graduate 43 students on June 8 when CCHS holds its graduation ceremonies on the Lions football field.
At the party, seniors were feted with a poem from DATA sophomore and junior English teacher Nancy Blair, received their sashes and certificates, and gorged on pizza and ice cream.

He's Graduating and Mom's Being Deported

Many seniors look forward with nervousness to the trappings of high school graduation. It's a time of hope and uncertainty.
Cathedral City High School senior Fidel Correa is no exception, although he has a heightened sense of uncertainty.
The day after graduation, Fidel's mother, Maria, will be deported to Mexico to join Fidel's father, also named Fidel, who was taken away from their home in handcuffs by the INS on Feb. 28 and sent back to Tijuana on a bus.
"Most of the time I feel hopeless," said the 17-year-old senior who was born in the United States. "I can't control what is going on. Already I have changed my plans from going to Cal-State Long Beach and Cal-Poly Pomona, where I have been accepted. Instead, I'll be going to College of the Desert next year. Money is an even bigger issue now."
He carried a 4.2 grade point average going into this, his senior year. "My grades dropped since my Dad's arrest," said Fidel Jr., a student in the Digital Arts Technology Academy at CCHS. "I almost dropped out of school a couple times. I started seeing a psychologist, I was and continue to be treated for high blood pressure, and then my Mom miscarried at the end of April."
Fidel's parents came here illegally about 17 years ago, and have spent the past 14 years going through the permanent residency proceedings. "In 2005 when I was in eighth grade, we went before a judge who denied our case," said the CCHS student. "We began the appeal process, called stay of removal, which allowed my parents to stay in the United States."
"You always fell a sense of apprehension. My Dad was hesitant about making decisions. He turned down an opportunity to become a manager because he didn't know how long he would be allowed to stay in the U.S."
One of the options is to turn over guardianship to an uncle until Fidel turns 18 in October. The uncle would be the guardian for both Fidel and his younger brother who is 14.
Money has been transferred to Fidel's name, and he is suddenly responsible for paying the bills. Because of his father's loss of income, they have missed mortgage payments, and are trying to short sell their house.
Fidel Correa Sr. always stressed the value of education to his son. It would have been his proudest moment to see his son walk across the stage and accept his high school diploma.
Now, with his father exiled across the border and his mother ordered to join him less than 24 hours after her son graduates, June eighth will be a bittersweet moment for Fidel Correa Jr., caught in the crossfire of immigration.

DATA Students Spend The Day At UC Riverside

A campus tour, a question and answer with two playwrights, stories of challenges and success by students from two Chicano organizations, and some insight into video games and literacy by an associate professor of media and cultural studies were all on the menu Monday, May 23 when 52 Digital Arts Technology Academy sophomores and juniors spent the day at UC Riverside.

The day for the Cathedral City High School students was organized by UCR's Tony Lawrence and began with a campus tour followed later that morning by a meeting with an admissions counselor.

Playwright and UCR Professor Stu Krieger (The Land Before Time and ten original movies for the Disney Channel, including Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and its two sequels, Tru Confessions, Smart House and Cow Belles are among his credits. He has been a story editor and writer on Spielberg’s Amazing Stories and the supervising producer on the ABC Television series Jack’s Place) told the students about his early days hustling any job he could find to be near the entertainment industry.

Associate professor Rickerby Hinds, a leading innovator in hip hop theater, talked about his recent work "Dreamscape," an interpretation of a true event based on the story of a young black women in Riverside, passed out in her car with a gun on her lap who ended up shot to death by police.

Hinds said he wrote the play from the point of view of the woman as the protagonist and the coroner as antagonist.

Later in the day, Media and Cultural Studies Associate Professor Derek Burrill talked to the DATA students about the prime importance of narrative in video games. The trip ended with a visit to the California Museum of Photography.

DATA students visit Gnomon School of Visual Effects

Over 100 eighth and ninth graders participated in a field trip to the Gnomon School of Visual Effects on Friday. The trip to the Hollywood school was sponsored by the Digital Arts Technology Academy at Cathedral City High School.

Chances are if you've seen a cool visual effect at the movies, a Gnomon graduate had a hand in it.
And what was one of the most important things those students learned? Well, all that high-tech magic is rooted in some very old fine arts.

DATA students visit Gnomon School of Visual Effects from Matt Hamilton on Vimeo.

Taylor Burns Anchors Student News Production at KPSP

The spotlight was on sophomore Taylor Burns Friday morning at KPSP Local2 as she taped the anchor segments of a news program produced by Cathedral City High School student digital storytellers that will air in early June. The program will focus on people who make a difference in Cathedral City and will include profiles on Daniel Webster from Big Mama's Restaurant, Betty Fernandez from Bridges of Hope, sculptor Michael Thiry, Healing Field activists Sue Priest and Greg Pettis, and CCHS music teacher Greg Whitmore.

Burns, who has acting experience in her high school productions, was selected to anchor the show after auditioning along with several other students at CCHS. This is the second time that students in Matt Hamilton's digital storytelling class will produce a news show for KPSP at the invitation and with the encouragement of news director Steve Minium and KPSP Vice President Don Perry.

"What Taylor did today in studio is much different than having a normal conversation," said KPSP Local2 Operations Manager John Gilhuly. "There's lighting and cameras and people running around. You're trying to read off a small screen. It's not a very natural environment. So the most important thing is that everyone off camera help the anchor feel natural in that environment.

"Taylor was awesome today. She was very natural, well-rehearsed, and followed directions perfectly."

5-13-2011

McQuinn Walks Away With More Awards As Supt. McCune Presides Over Her Final DigiCom

CCHS Digital Imaging Teacher Matt Cauthron, student Spencer McQuinn, student Lupita Fuentes, Digital Arts Technology Academy Coordinator Matt Hamilton.

For Cathedral City High School senior Spencer McQuinn, it was an award-filled two days.
On Sunday morning, McQuinn won the regional photography competition at the Skills USA contest in San Diego
and Monday night at DigiCom picked up an award as the DigiCom outstanding visual arts student and a $1,ooo check.
"I'm still in shock," said McQuinn, who will be entering College of the Desert in the Fall. "I never imagined when I entered high school that I would have all these amazing opportunities and receive these kinds of awards. The Digital Arts Technology Academy played a huge roll in making me the person I am today."
McQuinn is the only high school student from California that will be advancing to the Skills USA national photography competition June 20 in Kansas City, Mo.
The DigiCom event was also a tribute to outgoing PSUSD Superintendent Lorri McCune, who was instrumental in starting this showcase of student digital work three years ago.
"Three years ago, I talked to Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet about having our students get involved in the sustainability movement in the city of Palm Springs," explained McCune. "I asked him to let us make movies in connection with sustainability."
McCune shared her idea with Lee Grafton, PSUSD instructional technology specialist, and David Vogel, former head of Buena Vista Motion Pictures, and DigiCom took flight. "With the support of Lee and David and the Pinnacle Fund, we started DigiCom, a student film festival where students are given a camera and told to share their voice with the world."
The theme of this year's DigiCom was "Making A Difference," and CCHS student Lupita Fuentes won the grand prize for a theme project with her video story about Cathedral City's Healing Field. Two other CCHS students were honored Monday night, Leo Cortes for best music video, "Alive Nightmare," and Christian Ramirez for best short film, "Where's The Beef."
The event was sponsored by Time Warner, DigiCom Community Partners and the Pinnacle Fund.


2011 DIGICOM AWARD WINNERS

OUTSTANDING VISUAL ACHIEVEMENT
TIME FOR CHANGE
EVAN WILLIAMS
PALM SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL

OUTSTANDING INTERPRETATION OF THE THEME: “Make a Difference”
PANDORA’S BOX
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE THIRD GRADE STUDENTS OF RIO VISTA
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND THE DIGITAL IMAGING STUDENTS OF CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL ---DATA ACADEMY
MATT CAUTHERON - CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL:
DIGITAL ARTS TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY
JOEL BIBLE - RIO VISTA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL : GRADE 3
Sabrina Molhoek – Rio Vista Elementary School: GRADE 3
LOUISA CASTRODALE – PSUSD VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS SPECIALIST

THE TIME WARNER COLLECT A MILLION MINDS S.T.E.M. AWARD
GROASIS WATERBOXX PROJECT
PETE AHEARN –SCIENCE SPECIALIST PSUSD
NINA SHINE- DESERT HOT SPRINGS ALTERNATIVE CENTER

BEST THEME PROJECT: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
MARSHA BORING AND STUDENTS
RANCHO MIRAGE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

BEST THEME PROJECT MIDDLE SCHOOL
DESERT HOT SPRINGS VORTEXES
JACQUE COBLE AND STUDENTS
DESERT SPRINGS MIDDLE SCHOOL

BEST THEME PROJECT HIGH SCHOOL
SAVE A PET
ANGELICA LICEA
DESERT HOT SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL


GRAND PRIZE FOR THEME PROJECT: BEST ALL GRADE LEVEL
HEALING FIELD
LUPITA FUENTES
CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
DIGITAL ARTS TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY

BEST SHORT FILM
WHERE’S THE BEEF
CHRISTIAN RAMIREZ
CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
DIGITAL ARTS TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY

BEST MUSIC VIDEO
ALIVE NIGHTMARE
LEO CORTES
CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
DIGITAL ARTS TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY

BEST VIDEO ADDRESSING BULLYING
WHO ARE YOU?
KAI LYLES AND THE STUDENTS OF THE BULLYING CAMPAIGN
DESERT HOT SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL

THE GOLDEN REEL AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN EXEMPLIFYING THE THEME
KENDRA ONGALIBANG
DESERT HOT SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL

2011 OUTSTANDING DIGITAL ARTS STUDENT
SPENCER McQUINN
CATHEDRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL
DIGITAL ARTS TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY

CCHS Student Wins $4,000 Photo Scholarship

Cathedral City High School sophomore Taylor Burns earned the 2nd place grand prize of a $4,000 scholarship for her creative photography at the Spotlight Awards Scholarships held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles Saturday night.
"Every time before I go up to bat for my softball team, I say a prayer,"said Burns. "This photo contains some of the things that I pray about before stepping into the batter's box."
The judges compared her picture to Duane Michals, a photographer who blended pictures and words in the 1960s. "The judges said they liked the fact that my picture was unusual in terms of coloring and the shadowing of my words.
"I'm buying a Mac computer and a really good camera with the money," said Burns. She is interested in majoring in communications at Cal-State San Bernardino.
Taylor is not just a photographer; she also writes free verse poetry.

CCHS Classmates Tag Along With KPSP News Producers

By Danna Leyva

During my job shadowing day with classmate Laura Padilla, I was partnered with mobile reporter Eddie Quezada. He interviewed Rajendra Netha, El Paseo Jewelry owner, for a story to inform consumers about the changing price of gold. He also interviewed Rocky from Rockey's Pawn Shop.
After that, we followed up on a story about the lawsuit against the Palm Springs animal shelter for euthanizing animals in a " No Kill" shelter. We went to the Palm Springs Animal Shelter to ask about the lawsuit, but they didn't want to come out on camera, so we came away without a story.
Then we went back to the KPSP local 2 news station to edit the interviews and put the stories together. While I was waiting for Eddie to write the story, Laura and I asked assignment desk editor Tom Cutler (pictured above with Laura) about his job. We listened to the police and fire radio frequencies, which is how he finds out what's going on the community. Tom Cutler has to make the decision whether to send a reporter to get the story or not.

Job shadowing KPSP local 2 was an amazing learning experience and has made me realize what happens in the environment of a television news station.

By Laura Padilla

I was partnered with mobile journalist Arti Nehru. She interviewed Desert Sands Assistant Superintendent for Personnel Sherry Johnstone about the proposed 50 classified employee layoffs.

This includes bus drivers, custodians, and librarians, which, according to DSUSD bus driver BJ Anderson, will affect not only the employees that receive the pink slips but the students who use the services as well.

Just as Arti finished her interviews for the first story, she rushed to her second interview.

For the second story, she interviewed Palm Springs Superintendent Lorri McCune about the canceling of school on Good Friday. McCune said that many staff members requested Good Friday off because it was an important religious holiday to celebrate, leaving the district with no choice but to cancel the school day because they couldn't arrange enough substitutes to cover the teachers who would be out that day.

After recording the video for the two stories, we headed back to the KPSP news station. At the news station, Tom Cutler explained his position as the assignment desk manager; he sits by the radios of the fire department and police department to listen for any emergency news.

Then meteorologist Patrick Evans (below) took us on a tour of the studio. After the tour, he showed us that he gets the information for the weather reports from satellite video and weather web pages.

He also explained that when he is reporting the weather on air, he is only standing in front of a green background where the image is just synced in for the viewer to see.

At the end of the day, I sat in the studio to watch the five o'clock news broadcast go on air. It was amazing to see the stories in their production phase make it to air.

Digital Storytellers Spend Day at Desert Sun

Desert Sun publisher Mark Winkler told juniors from Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class that "My advice to you is to have passion for what you do. That's the most important thing."

The students spent Wednesday April 13, 2011 at the Desert Sun, attending the morning staff meeting (editor Greg Burton at left) where the day's story list was discussed and then touring the facility, courtesy of Press/Distribution Center Manager Mike Soto.

The visit was facilitated by Carol Horton, the marketing manager at the Desert Sun.

Reporters Brian Indrelunas and Sonya English, both new to the Sun, talked about their preparation for the newspaper businss. Indrelunas is a graduate of Arizona State and English graduated from the University of Kansas. Both Indrelunas and English bring evolving media skills to the newspaper, and even though they are newcomers to the news business, they also bring a media savvy that gives them added value to a business that is now much more than just newsprint. "The business is changing, but the basics of storytelling remain the same," said Indrelunas.

The Sun has a circulation of 70,000 during the season that drops to 40,000 off season. It uses 100% recyclable newsprint.

Cathedral City High Students Reflect On A Week Among The Hungry And Homeless

Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines weeklong homeless journey is complete and the students from Matt Hamilton's digital storytelling class who walked and rode the bus and interviewed people along the way with Scott in morning and afternoon shifts have logged all their footage, but the lessons learned will live on forever in all their lives.

Revealed in the over 30 hours of footage that will be turned into a documentary by the students are several lessons: the homeless and the hungry among us take care of their hungry brethern in shelters, in the homeless camps hidden away in our Valley, in the parking lot of fast food restuarants; organizations like the FIND Food Bank are the lifeline for thousands of hungry people in our valley; and, finally, there for the grace of God and the ability to make our rent or monthly mortgage payments, go you and I.

You can hear the life lessons CCHS students learned in this report aired on KPSP Local2 Friday night, April 8, 2011.

Scott Hines, Day Six: How Food Distribution Centers Prevent Homelessness

Day Six finds Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines in front of Our Lady of Solitude Church where the hungry can get something to eat for lunch. Hines' weeklong journey across the valley is highlighting the plight of the hungry in an attempt to raise money for the FIND Food Bank.

Before eating lunch, Hines talked to Palm Springs Councilwomen Ginny Foat about how places like Our Lady of Solitude and other food pantries across the valley are actually helping to prevent families from becoming homeless.

Jennifer Juarez, a senior in the digital arts program at Cathedral City, filmed this interview April 7, 2011.

mhamilton@psusd.us

DATA Students Step In Front Of The Camera Wednesday

Digital Storytellers in Matt Hamilton's class at Cathedral City High School were the story instead of capturing the story Wednesday. The Desert Sun newspaper ran a story Wednesday morning about the students following Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines' week on the streets as a homeless person. Hines' journey is highlighting the plight of the hungry in our Valley in an attempt to raise awareness as well as money for the FIND Food Bank.

Wednesday afternoon, Anabel Munoz of Palm Springs Univision was in class to ask four Spanish speakers, seniors Lupita Fuentes and Tanya Sanchez and juniors Paola Fernandez and Ayrton Carrazco, about their experiences filming Hines as he makes his way around the Valley. This story will air tonight at 6 p.m. and again at 11 p.m. on Univision Palm Springs.

Thirty students are involved in the project that documents Hines' travels as well as the people in shelters and food pantries that he meets during the week.

Hines' journey will culminate Friday at KPSP Local2 during that station's telethon for hunger.

Scott Hines, Day Five: "The Most Difficult Thing I've had to deal with is a feeling of helplessness"

It was only day five for Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines on his weeklong homeless journey to raise awareness about hunger in the Valley, but you could tell this experience was taking its toll. Cathedral City High School students Paola Fernandez and Cristal Gonzalez caught up with Hines today to find out how he's feeling and what he's learned so far. APRIL 6, 2011

Day Four, Scott Hines' Homeless Journey

After four days on the streets, Scott Hines has a different view of bus shelters.

Rancho Mirage councilman Hines is in day four of his homeless journey across the Coachella Valley to bring attention to hunger in the Valley and to raise money for the FIND Food Bank.

Midday Tuesday, while riding a Sun Bus, he overshoots his destination and eventually has to walk a mile to the Mountain View Affordable Senior Housing where he talked with residents.

Scott's journey is being filmed by students from Matt Hamilton's digital storytelling class, and today it was Laura Padilla and Danna Leyva who were documenting Scott's travels and travails.

April 5, 2011

Jackie Turns Life Around At Martha's Kitchen and Village

In her drug-addicted state, Jackie could do little more than fix Top Ramen for her kids when they were little. She turned her life around and now works at Martha's Village and Kitchen, the same place where she began to rebuild her life. Jackie's story is just one of many Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines has encountered as he works his way around the Valley's soup kitchens and homeless campgrounds as part of his week on the streets. This interview was captured by Cathedral City High School digital storytellers Lupita Fuentes and Spencer McQuinn. Both are students in Matt Hamilton's class at Cathedral City High School. April 4, 2011.

mhamilton@psusd.us

Scott Hines Homeless Journey, Day 2

There are a lot of sad stories Sunday morning April 3, 2011 in the parking lot of the Golden Rainbow Center food pantry in Palm Springs. There's the gay youth shunned by his family, hungry and shy in line as he waits for someone to call out his number so he can grab a bag of groceries and split. A man who once owned five houses but had to file bankruptcy when the economy tanked. Another man who has four generations living in his house.

In the line as well is Scott Hines, a councilman from Rancho Mirage, who is living on the streets for a week to bring attention to the problem of hunger in the Coachella Valley.

There's a misconception that everyone at this food pantry and other food distribution centers is homeless. Not necessarily. But everyone is there in an attempt to stave off hunger.

Across the street, cars pull in and out of a gated hillside community, a juxtaposition not lost on those paying attention. It's getting warmer by the minute in the parking lot outside the pantry with today's high expected to be 85. Still, there's no disorder, no hot tempers, just people grateful to walk away with their food stuffs.

Among the faces and voices in the parking lot Sunday morning is Ellen Zimmerman, an articulate and forceful voice for those in need.

Here is her conversation with Lisa Houston, Chief Executive Officer and President of the FIND Food Bank in Indio, California.

-Matt Hamilton, Cathedral City High School

Cathedral City High School Students Document Homeless Experience

Students in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School are following Rancho Mirage councilman Scott Hines as he spends a week living on the streets in Coachella Valley. The students are participating in a documentary that will highlight the problems of hunger in the Valley.

The story began with a grocery distribution in the parking lot of Calvary Bible Church in Cathedral City Saturday morning, April 2, 2011.

Hines is carrying no cash or identification as he makes his way across the Valley using public transportation and eating at public food pantries. He's meeting and talking with people throughout the week, from the homeless people to elected city officials, to talk about hunger in the Valley.

His journey is part of FIND Food Bank's hunger awareness campaign and ends Friday at KPSP Local2 where he will be part of a telethon at the station to raise money for FIND.

Closing Night, El Paseo Fashion Show

The dazzling designs of Oliver Tolentino were on display Saturday night at the El Paseo Fashion Show. Cathedral City High School digital arts student Tanya Sanchez caught the highlights of the show with this photo essay.

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Night Six, El Paseo Fashion Show

The designs Friday night at the El Paseo Fashion Show were by Trina Turk and the theme of the night was Palm Springs Eternal. This slideshow was shot by Digital Arts Technology Academy students Bianca Sosa and Kathernine Sanchez.

Kids Get Their Shot At El Paseo Fashion Show Thursday night

The kids got their chance Thursday night at the El Paseo Fashion Show. For one night, designs by Fashion Institute Of Design and Merchandising students rocked the bright lights of El Paseo Fashion Week. Student designers like Alexandra Paulis, Airi Isoda and Kristine Flanigan put their best foot forward on night five of El Paseo Fashion Week.

For less than an hour, their designs were under the bright lights of the fashion world.

And all these young guns of fashion hope it's not the last time.

Photos by Digital Arts Technology Academy students Primavera Lopez and Yorely Guttierez, Cathedral City High School.

This blog received a mention on the KPSP Local2 news yesterday. Here's a link to that shout-out by news anchor Kris Long:

http://www.kpsplocal2.com/default.aspx?articleID=55462

Project Runway Packs Them In; Night Four of the El Paseo Fashion Show

Fashion and television collided in a colorful splash of fun and style Wednesday night at the El Paseo Fashion Show.

With the Real Housewives of Orange County sitting ringside and American Idol finalist Kimberly Locke providing the vocals, Project Runway designers Michael Costello, Mondo Guerra and Christopher Collins delighted the standing room only crowd at the big white tent on the corner of Larkspur and El Paseo.

Thursday night the show continues with the Fashion Institute of Design and merchandising (FIDM) Debut 2011. Doors open at 7 p.m. The show begins at 8 p.m.

The photo above was taken by Digital Arts Technology Academy student Arlene Arellano.

Rockin' Night at El Paseo Fashion Show

The crowd at the El Paseo Fashion Show was clapping and on its feet Tuesday night to the strains of Proud Mary, Pink Panther music and a salute to the armed forces as the Rocking Roberge Spectacular was just that.

A Fashion Week sponsor and El Paseo boutique, InSanity presented its edgy and sophisticated clothes for the spring, as well as jewelry designed by Denise Robergé.

All proceeds from the night benefitted the Coachella Valley Autism Society of America and Loving All Animals.

Fashion Show Week at the big tent continues Wednesday night with Project Runway. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m.

Video was shot by Fatima Salcedo, a student in Matt Hamilton and David Vogel's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School.

Night Two, El Paseo Fashion Show

Long-legged models and kids with attitude strolled the runway on the second night of the fashion parade at the El Paseo Fashion Week under the big white tent at the corner of El Paseo and Mountain Shadow. Monday night's event featured local stores Tommy Bahama, El Paseo Jewelry, White House Black Market, Cactus Flower Shoe Salon, Wayne's Collection, Eileen Fisher, She She Kids, V&G Hip Wear and Accessories, BB one, Bebe, Tink, Don Vincent, Dani, Josie's on El Paseo, and Chelsea Taylor.

Digital Arts Technology Academy student Spencer McQuinn photographed Monday night's action.

The runway show continues Tuesday night with Rocking Roberge Spectacular. Tent doors open at 7 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m.

DATA Students Provide Total Coverage of El Paseo Fashion Show

Digital Arts Technology Academy (DATA) students at Cathedral City High School are documenting this week's Fashion Week on El Paseo. Sunday evening's show was themed the Best of Saks Fifth Avenue. Monday night the tent opens at 7 p.m for the 8 p.m. show entitled Fashion Runway Bar. The photo at left was taken by DATA senior Spencer McQuin.

DATA digital storytellers document CUE at Convention Center

DATA digital storytellers Jessica Gerrel and Arin Wall filmed and edited CUE Live productions at the Computer Using Educators Conference at the Palm Springs Convention Center on March 18, 2011. The CUE Conference is the largest and oldest education technology conference in California, and among the largest in the United States. Their videos can be viewed on School Tube.

Documentary Exposes AIDS Problem in Africa

Students in the Digital Arts Technology Academy attended a screening of the documentary "Angels in the Dust" Tuesday morning at the Palm Springs High School theater. The film is about Marion Cloete who abandons a life of privilege in Johannesburg to build Botshabelo, a village and school that provides orphaned children with shelter, food and education.

"The film made me reevualuate my health, my life and my family," said DATA senior Jessica Gerrell.

"It made made me realize that there are still good people out there devoting their lives to helping others," said DATA junior Paola Fernandez.

"I admire the Cloete family because they took their entire savings and built an orphange because not a lot of people would take everything they own and put it into an orphanagge to help children who are victims of AIDS," said DATA senior Jennifer Juarez.

James Egan is the Producer of the documentary.

Neely Tucker of the Washington Post wrote this about the documentary: "...you will be moved, if not stunned, by this straightforward, unadorned example of filmmaking. Director Louise Hogarth uses no voice-over narration, no real narrative device to move the story along. She just turned on the camera in 2004 and spent a large chunk of the next two years following Cloete on her duties, which range from playing with children to loading bodies in the mortuary into coffins and then into the back of a pickup."

Following the screening, Katherine Sanchez and Yoryely Rojas, two students in Matt Hamilton's digital storytelling class at Cathedral City High School, sat down with Hogarth to talk about her documentary.

Hogarth told the students that the film had a such a strong impact on her life that she started the orphan bracelet campaign, which is called DO Ubuntu, which means do unto others as you would have them do unto you. She employes women in South Africa who are living with HIV to make the bracelets. The profits go to a program that feeds 200 South African children every day, as well as capital projects, which recently included building a house in Uganda and a wing on an orphanage.

"Before making the documentary, I was very aware of the HIV problem in Africa and I wanted to make the rest of the world aware of it," said Hogarth. "At that point in time, South Africa wasn't able to get any HIV drugs because the president of Africa didn't believe HIV caused AIDS, so I was hoping this documentary would help to rectify that situation and put a spotlight on that situation and encourage people to help in any way they could."

Cathedral City High School photojournalist Spencer McQuinn is creating the runway graphics for the Fashion Week El Paseo Runway Bar. The senior student in the Digital Arts Technology Academy at CCHS spent Monday afternoon shooting images of Christina De Musee's acrylic on canvas art work and then sat down with Palm Springs Life Magazine Fashion Editor Susan Stein to pair the store names with the artwork. At left is an example of his work.

McQuinn is a student in Matt Hamilton's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School.

Fashion week is March 20-28.

"Louder Than A Bomb," "Soul Boy" A Hit With PSUSD Students

Students from all over Coachella Valley packed the Palm Springs High School auditorium Wednesday morning to screen the documentary "Louder Than A Bomb" and "Soul Boy." Both films were received with enthusiastic applause by the students.

At left are two of the stars of the documentary, Nate Marshall and Novana Venerable.

The event was sponsored by the Palm Springs International Film Festival whose Programming/Education Outreach Coordinator is Ken Jacobson.

Following the screening, Jennifer Juarez, a student in Matt Hamilton and David Vogel's Digital Storytelling Class at Cathedral City High School, had a chance to interview "Louder Than A Bomb" director Greg Jacobs.

Jennifer: Why did you decide to do this documentary?

Director Greg Jacobs: I was driving by Wrigley Field in Chicago one night, in March of 2005, and I happened to pass by a club called The Metro. The marquee said "Louder Than A Bomb High School Slam Poetry Finals Tonight." There was a line of kids of every shape, size and color all the way down the street. It was so strange to see that kind of diversity on the north side of Chicago on a Saturday night--and for poetry. That meant there were kids inside reading their own poetry. We just thought that was a really interesting thing going on that we didn't know about so we decided to take a look.

Jennifer: What was your biggest challenge?

Director Greg Jacobs: The biggest challenge was how to go about telling the story. It took two years to edit it, and while we had done hundreds of other documentaries, we had never done a feature documentary before. It took a long time to figure out how to tell the story.

Jennifer: How did you pick the high students who are the stars of the documentary?

Director Greg Jacobs: We went the year before to the finals and decided we would take the measure of who was there and who was coming back. We knew that to make a documentary like this, the poems had to be great and the kids had to be interesting as well as great performers. Nate, Nova and the others just jumped out at us in the finals, and they were coming back. It was so obvious they were the great ones to follow. We picked them and only followed them, and they are unbelievable.