Taught in the school’s “Mysterious Mac Lab,” Leesville’s Digital Media course teaches students about graphic design by using high-end, professional quality hardware and software.
“This class is cool because the kids get to learn by doing,” said Jason Korreck, course instructor. “They spend a lot of time working with the software to create projects. We live in a pretty media rich society. Everyone is going to need to know a little bit of graphic design and other forms of multimedia in order to communicate.”
There are two level of Digital Media at the moment: Digital Media I and its ‘sequel,’ Advanced Digital Media.
Digital Media I teaches students the basics of graphic design, including working with Photoshop (pictures), Flash (animation), Garage Band (music) and Final Cut Pro (video).
“Since most people have never used Macs, Digital Media I introduces us to them,” said A.J. Rimes, senior. “The Advanced Digital Media classes make productions for the school, such as the Leesville commercial and driver’s education videos. They will also make Pride T.V. from now on.”
“It’s just a fun class; you really get to know everybody. You have to work hard, though. It’s also fun to film around school. We even got to use a green screen in Advanced Digital Media,” said Drew Blackburn, senior.
While it may seem counterproductive to take classes on Macs and Microsoft PCs, the combined benefits of taking Microsoft IT classes along with Digital Media are invaluable to computer fanatics, regardless of the hardware.
As Korreck said, “We often get so caught up in the technology, that we forget that they are all just ways to communicate.”
