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.

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 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.

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.

Digital Storytelling Workshop Kicks Off

Sixteen certificated staff, including teachers, specialists, and administrators, took part in a digital storytelling workshop Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010 at Cathedral City High School.

Led by Digital Arts Technology Academy Coordinator Matt Hamilton, media mentor David Vogel, and education technology specialist Lee Grafton. The initial workshop covered concepts of digital storytelling, brainstorming a story, and building a story using Apple applications iMovie, Garageband, iPhoto and iTunes.

All participants in the workshop will be submitting a project for for the Digicom Showcase, May 4, 2010, 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. at Palm Springs High School.

Above, teacher Jennifer O’Connor (left) and PSUSD English Language Arts Specialist Kim Monnie discuss their storyboards.

DATA Students Visit Morris Desert Media

DATA students are involved in a variety of enrichment activities throughout the year. During the first semester, in an event arranged by Director of Programming and Operations John McMullen, DATA journalism students visited Morris Desert Media Group to learn about jobs in front and behind the microphone in the radio business.

One of the highlights of the day for the DATA students was visiting with DJ Ant Dog, who had the students record a promo during his studio show.

DATA graduates Denisse Gonzalez and Nondi Johnson have interned the past two summers for KNEWS radio.

DATA Students Interview Holocaust Survivors

Frances Nassau (left) was one of three Holocaust survivors that were interviewed by DATA journalism students at the Tolerance Education Center in Rancho Mirage on Nov. 18, 2009. Nassau survived her time in four different concentration camps during World War II.

Katherine Gruen and Gabriella Gartner were the other two survivors that were interviewed by the students.

Ann Phillips of the Tolerance Education Center hosted the forum.

DATA Students Film At Poly High

Five DATA journalism students spent the day filming teachers and students in the Riverside Poly High School Culinary Academy. 

The filming was at the request of the California Department of Education, and the completed video project will be hosted on a CDE web site. 

DATA Students Visit Cal-State Fullerton

Over 100 students from the Digital Arts technology Academy at Cathedral City High School visited Cal-State Fullerton on Nov. 12. 

The students received a campus tour, met with an admissions director, toured the CSUF Performing and Visual Arts Department, and talked to four DATA grads who are now students at CSUF.

Professor Larry Johnson, chariman of the school's visual arts department, and his faculty provided the DATA students with a visit to several classes while they were in session to give the students a feel for the breadth of the program. 

Johnson emphasized the idea that "our department seeks to turn out students who are problem solvers, creative thinkers, and people who can create something out of just an idea."