Peninsula High dove into multimedia storytelling with an interesting, well-produced series called “Beyond the Commons.” Members of the Peninsula Outlook newspaper staff profiled students with unusual interests outside the school walls and created 6-minute (or so) stories with clean audio, interesting natural sound and good still and video photography.
See them all on their Web site or on You Tube. Or just watch this one, about Olivia Konicek, a senior, who enjoys wood-making and even started her own business:
How do they find these students? Word-of-mouth, initially. And when James Luce, the student director of the series, told adviser Derek Smith there weren’t any more talented students in the school, Smith said he “flipped out.” He took Luce and a few other reporters down the halls and into classrooms.
“Some of them were shocked at all the cool things going on, especially in the shop class. They didn’t know we had welding equipment at the school and that sparks were flying one building away from our journalism room. In about 15 minutes, we found a whole list of people with unique talents,” Smith said in an e-mail interview.
